Crossing Paths
by Hashtag-FriedShrimp
Summary: When Liam set out on his journey all he wanted was to have fun. He'll do that with the people he meets along the way, but Team Rocket, mercenaries, the international police, and injured pokemon are putting a damper on his plans. Hopefully, the friends he makes along the way will help, but if not there's always his growlithe Duck! OT! World: Anime & Games
1. Chapter 1: Meeting Misty

**Disclaimer:** _Pokemon_ and it's relevant characters, settings, etc., are owned by Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, Game Freak, and other legal owners. I do not claim ownership of any character, setting, etc., recognized from the _Pokemon_ franchise, including both games, TV shows, and other sources of media.

 **Rated:** T for language, mild violence, eventual darker themes

 **Author's Note:** Hello! Welcome to my new Pokemon fanfic _Crossing Paths_! I haven't read many pokemon stories, mainly just some of the more popular (and non-pornographic) ones, so I don't really know what's "been done" and what hasn't so this story is just going in whatever direction I think is right. I'm not going to worry about avoiding similarities with other stories (i.e., The Straight Elf's _Traveler_ or darkfire1220's _Challenger_ ) and do what seems interesting.

This story _will_ be very different from those two, though, I should note. I'm no good at science so my "scientific" descriptions will be dealing with a lot of pseudo-sciences, cosmic energy type of stuff. Think chakra from Naruto, kinda like that. I thought that was a nice middle ground between things happening just because and having scientific reasoning–at least there's some sort of explanation, can you readers suspend your disbelief enough for that?

Also, **this story is a slow burn**. Like, incredibly slow. It'll be a while before the first gym battle. So… take that as you will. Lot's of talking this chapter, but others will have more action.

Other than that I'm not sure what else to say, some of what's important has been covered in the summary, but I'll include some random stuff here for those interested: the chapter lengths are pretty good, I feel (~15,000 - 20,000 words); I'm using nicknames and will include a section at the bottom of each chapter with who each pokemon is; I'll try to reply to reviews but I won't include them in the chapters unless I think one's particularly notable.

One last thing: I'll be **updating once a month** for the first few chapters. I have the first one hundred pages written (chapters 1-2 plus bits and pieces of 3 and 4). Once the summer comes around, I will update more often (probably, no promises), but I need time to finish university and write more chapters, so yeah… that.

I hope you enjoy reading!

* * *

 **Crossing Paths**

 **Chapter One: Meeting Misty**

Liam puttered around his bedroom as he got dressed for the day. His clothes were that typical for pokemon trainers traveling the world: jeans, a t-shirt, a hat, tennis shoes. Most notable of his clothes was a red and black plaid flannel, unbuttoned and with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A piece of thick black string wound around a slim red crystal created a necklace that bumped against his chest as he walked and completed what he would be wearing for the next undefined amount of time. Soon he would be setting out on his own pokemon journey, as his mother had wanted him to, and that meant only a small amount of clothes to choose from as he traveled around the Kanto region.

At fifteen years old, Liam was older than most beginning trainers, who started at ten, but that didn't mean he was any less than them. If anything, Liam was sure that his older age meant that he wouldn't be drawn into the same mistakes his younger peers would make.

But comparing himself to kids five years younger was a mistake too, wasn't it?

Liam, fully dressed, stepped over to the foot of his bed, where his packed and extra large messenger bag sat, and slung it over one shoulder. A waterproof sleeping bag, changes of clothes, a rain jacket, and a large tent set occupied the space inside. Thankfully, however, there were many pockets on the outside, due to the bag's military style, in which Liam kept sealed medicines and food, as well as other small miscellaneous tools. Thankfully, the pokeballs Liam would carry with him could be hung from his belt, and so he hadn't need to worry about space with them. The last of the remaining pocket space would be used for a badge case and spare pokeballs Liam would be buying, and after that, he would be hard pressed to find available space.

Nevertheless, now prepared Liam went downstairs to make a quick late breakfast for himself, dropping his bag onto the kitchen table. As he did he poured out two bowls of pokemon food, one for a fire type and one for a dark type. Once his breakfast was complete, a simple plate of eggs on toast, he placed his food on the table and looked out the glass door. Relaxing in the sun on the small patio out back of his home laid his mother's arcanine Growla and his father's liepard. Knowing he wouldn't need to do anything more, Liam whistled shortly then sat down to eat. As he sprinkled some salt and pepper on the eggs he heard the back door open up behind him before soft padded steps came in. Out of the corner of his eye, Liam saw Liepard, then Growla, walk over to their food.

They ate in relative silence, Liam not thinking much of anything and the two pokemon playfully nudging one another with their noses in between bites. Once Liam was finished he rinsed his plate in the sink and placed it in the dishwasher. Liam picked up his bag, slung it over his head so that it crossed over his chest, and knelt down to give one final petting to both pokemon. Liepard purred with content and Growla's tail began to wag, but before she could roll over and ask for a belly rub Liam was out the front door and on his way down the wide dirt road. It was almost eleven in the morning; it was time to go and get his first pokemon.

Liam didn't run and instead walked with an even pace as he made his way through the small, if slightly expansive, farming village of Pallet Town. With just over three hundred people Pallet Town was a small and cozy home for the world-famous researcher Professor Oak and his assistants. Conveniently placed on the coast and nestled by some scattered mountains on the edge of the Silver Range, the mountain range that separated Kanto and Johto, Pallet Town experienced cool and fair temperatures all year round if the sporadic thunderstorm.

While the weather and scenery were pleasant, Pallet Town was a far cry from the bustling Lumiose City that Liam had been raised in. Indeed, sometimes he thought there couldn't be two more different places. But there was no use crying over spilled milk, and so Liam continued on.

Under the warm morning sun, Liam neared Oak's lab and the surrounding ranch that housed the pokemon he studied. As a world-renowned academic, Oak had the money and influence to own a vast swath of land, renovated to suit the needs of all sorts of different pokemon and replicate the environments they lived in; and that land was nearly all devoted to the trainers that lived in and around Pallet Town. Generally that wouldn't seem like many people, but when one considered that just about every household in the town had at least one pokemon, who often went to play with the pokemon on the Oak Ranch, and that Professor Oak had been servicing their small town for over twenty years, the numbers began to add up. Sometimes it was surprising that Oak and his few assistants were enough to take care of them all, but then, Liam supposed, the town's people still took care of their own pokemon, too.

At least, they were when they weren't congregating at the entrance to the lab.

A large crowd, or at least large for Pallet Town, was grouped together, the crowd members chatting happily with one another. They seemed to be watching something in pleasant amusement, and from the voices that something was two somethings; Ash and Gary.

"Excuse me," Liam said as he squeezed through the crowd. "Excuse me, let me through, please."

When he made it through Liam chuckled at the sight of Gary taunting Ash, pokeball in his hand while Ash seemed to still be in his pajamas. The two and their arguments were a common sight in Pallet Town, and even though Liam had only been living here for two months, he had quickly learned that the two's fighting was a common occurrence that everyone, including Liam, had grown used to.

"You may be getting your first pokemon, Ashy-boy, but you'll never be as great a trainer as me!" Gary taunted, his pokeball spinning on the tip of a finger.

"You just wait and see, Gary! I'll be the best Pokemon Master in the world!" Ash boasted, chest puffed up and an angry glare directed at Gary.

Liam looked between the two with a smirk, content to watch for a moment, but decided to step forward and try to nip this argument in the bud. "As fun as it is for the rest of us to watch, maybe we could get a move on, please?"

Ash looked back at Liam with surprise, but Gary only matched Liam's smirk with his own. "Well, well, if it isn't Liam. Can't say I'm disappointed to see _you_ here. About to get a pokemon of your own?"

Liam nodded, but before he could speak Ash cut in. "Wait, but you're too old to be a trainer!"

There was a series of groans from the crowd around them, no doubt at Ash's foot in his mouth, and Liam leveled him with a flat look. Really? Liam wasn't too surprised, Ash had always been narrowly focused on his own experiences, but Liam had answered questions like these at the educational classes Oak held for Pallet's children when he first arrived two months ago. Ash had even been there! Liam sighed and decided to not respond to that exclamation.

"So," Liam began, looking at Gary, "you've picked your pokemon already?"

Gary held up the red and white pokeball, ignoring Ash's indignant "Hey!" and looked up into Liam's eyes with determination. "You bet! And the two of us will cream any wannabe that gets in our way. I'm looking forward to the day I beat you, Liam!"

Liam smiled with a raised eyebrow. "You calling me a wannabe, Gary? Those are fighting words."

Gary's smirk grew a little, and he crossed his arms with confidence. "You know they are!"

Liam laughed and was about to respond when Ash jumped between the two of them. "Don't ignore me!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Liam, Gary, and even the people in the crowd looked at Ash with wide, surprised eyes. Damn, Liam knew Ash could be loud, but he had never thought _that_ loud. A moment passed, but then the crowd began to laugh. It was uproarious, deep from the belly, and from what Liam could tell made Ash even angrier.

"Calm down, Ashy-boy!" Gary said, his laughter bubbling a little into his speech. "The grown-ups are talking."

Liam watched with fascination as Ash seethed, his face turning red with anger and a vein throbbing in his forehead. "I'LL SHOW YOU!" Ash screamed, even louder than before, before running at full sprint up the staircase to the lab.

Liam watched him go, blinking away the pain from the noise, before turning to Gary again.

"I should head up there, too."

Gary nodded. "Right." Liam moved for the stairs. "And Liam…" He paused and looked over at Gary. There was no arrogance in his face now, only a happy determination. "I don't know when I'll next see you, but let's make sure to battle it out in the Indigo Conference."

Liam smiled and nodded back. "You know it." He held his hand out, but instead of shake it Gary smacked it with a high five. With a smooth, almost practiced motion, they both brought their fists together in a fist bump.

Then Gary was on his way, most of the crowd either following him on to the border of the town or returning to their homes. Liam took a moment to watch him leave, then look up at the tall Oak Laboratory, sitting upon a grassy hill, and began to walk the stone steps up.

* * *

When Liam knocked on the door, he was greeted by one of Oak's assistants, dressed as they normally were on the job, in a white lab coat but casual clothing underneath. Katherine, he thought her name was, but Liam had only met her once before and wasn't confident about that.

"Liam! You're Richard's son, right?" She asked in greeting as she welcomed him in.

Liam nodded as he stepped inside, glancing around the simple entry room. It was sparsely decorated, a green couch was up against one wall, a painting of water pokemon around a small lake hanging above it. No other decorations or furnishings, but Liam figured that with all sorts of pokemon coming in and out that was probably a good thing. Three doors, besides the front door, led into different parts of the building, with one at the top of a thin brown staircase. One of these doors was open, showing a room cluttered with different machines and the dull sounds of mechanical beeps and whirring fans.

"Professor Oak is just through that door." Katherine pointed to the open door. "He's with Ash at the moment, but you can just go in." She smiled up at him then left through one of the other doors.

Liam watched her leave, unsure whether it was actually okay to just walk in, but then a bright yellow light and pained screams came out of the room and Liam rushed in before he knew it. Laying on the ground, near a standard healing machine in the middle of the room, laid Ash and Professor Oak. Pained and surprised, they were covered in patches of soot, and their hair stood on end. In Ash's hands was what Liam recognized as a pikachu. Small and yellow, with round red cheeks, Liam could say with the utmost seriousness that the most shocking part of this image was the angry, vindictive smirk on Pikachu's face.

"Oh boy," Liam said with wide eyes. Carefully he edged closer, eyes never leaving the pikachu, until he was at Professor Oak's side. "Are you alright, Professor?" Liam crouched down and helped Oak sit up, but he waved Liam away and got up on his own.

With a groan, Oak was back on his feet. "I'm fine Liam, thank you. I've had my share of shocks over the years." He looked over to Ash. "All right there, Ash?"

Ash, his body twitching in different places, groaned as a response. Slowly he sat up, pikachu sitting in his lap. The smirk was still there, but Liam thought that pikachu seemed content with that one attack. "I'm okay, Professor. I think." Ash groaned again but began to stand up too, and when it looked like he had his feet solidly under him looked at Liam with an arrogant smile. It was weird, Liam decided, seeing Gary's arrogance combined with Ash's foolishness. "To bad for you! Um… person!" He declared, holding up his devil pikachu like it was a prize he had won at the fair and that it hadn't just attacked him. Professor Oak, who had moved to stand behind Ash and away from his pikachu, smacked his face in Liam's full view, making him fight the urge to laugh as violent sparks flashed near Pikachu's cheeks. "I got the very last one! Too bad, if only you had gotten here sooner!"

"Oh my god," Liam heard Oak whisper in exasperation, probably louder than he meant if Liam had heard it.

Liam glanced at him in amusement, then down again at Ash. Deciding to pull the "I'm older than you, so I'm smarter too" card, Liam drew to his full height of five feet eight inches–taller than the average adult male here in Kanto–crossed his arms in front of his chest, and looked down at Ash as if speaking to a preschooler.

"I wouldn't be here if there wasn't a pokemon for me to pick up." Arms still crossed, Liam stepped around Ash and closer to Professor Oak, seemingly ignoring but actually basking in the irritated rage that was radiating off of Ash. "Isn't that right, Professor?"

Oak cleared his throat, glanced between Liam and Ash, and seemed reticent to answer. Nevertheless, he nodded his head and reached into his pocket. When he pulled his hand out it was with a standard red and white pokeball. Along with it was a piece of paper, crisply folded but dinged from being in Oak's pocket. "Indeed, Liam. I have a pokemon specially reserved for you."

Liam's spine, if it could, straightened and his shoulders became tense. He squinted at Oak, daring him to confirm Liam's suspicions. Oak didn't respond, and instead handed the ball over despite Ash's increasingly vocal complaints–"Why does _he_ get a special pokemon?" He tried to push the letter onto Liam as well, all the while trying to explain to Ash that "His father is one of my assistants, and…"

It was with only unwilling and stiff fingers that Liam took it.

He had only just begun to glare at the offending piece of paper when the pokeball opened with a flash of white light. The light arced, coalescing at Liam's feet, and as it solidified it dimmed, revealing an eager growlithe. Clean, shiny orange fur, clear and intelligent eyes, and a tail that wouldn't stop wagging, it was amazing, and Liam couldn't stop the small smile that escaped. Kneeling down, Liam laid one hand down on the top of its head and began scratching, and with the other hand opened up the letter.

* * *

 _Liam,_

 _I am sure you are angry with me for not being with you when you are given your first pokemon, but I had work that needed to be done out by the lake. Nevertheless, I have prepared this pokemon for you._

 _As I am sure you have realized, it is a growlithe. I asked Samuel to hold onto it for you. It is the son Arcanine and Liepard. He hatched two weeks ago and is now old enough to battle and act as your first pokemon. He has Arcanine's personality, but I have seen Liepard's cunning in his eyes. As such, I have confirmed that he enjoys sweets and dislikes dry foods._

 _I regret to inform you that there was an incident where a young child from town was playing in the fields and began to call the growlithe "Duck," and though many of us at the lab, including myself, have explained that the child wasn't his trainer, it seems he has taken a liking to the name. Due to this, he has already been named–you know of my opinion on naming pokemon. Nevertheless, I believe the growlithe is aware that you are his first and only trainer, and so you should not worry about him not following your commands._

 _Liam, I understand that these past two months have been hard on you, and I am sorry so much has happened just before you would have set off for your journey in Kalos, but I am sure with Duck by your side you'll see that Kanto is every bit as grand._

 _I know that you are angry with me for so many things, but please know that my home will always be your home and that I will always be there for you._

 _Love,_

 _Your Father Richard_

* * *

Liam glared down at the paper, wrinkling it under his slowly curling fist. Of course, _of course_ , he wouldn't be here. _I'm sorry, but I have work,_ he says, same as always. Always the same excuse. Trying to make up for it with letters and gifts, never realizing that those only _make him_ _more angry_ –

Something wet and sloppy run up his cheek. Shocked and surprised by the sensation, Liam was broken from his anger and looked over to see the growlithe– _Duck_ –standing on his hind legs, forelegs balancing on Liam's side, a happy smile on his face and a wet, pink tongue peeking out from the front of his muzzle. Duck woofed lightly, giving Liam a faceful of dog breath, and licked him again.

Liam couldn't help but laugh. The letter was discarded and forgotten, and instead, Liam turned and wrapped his arms around Duck in a big hug. Liam took a few moments to let Duck's comforting warmth sink in, then leaned back, his hands still rest in Duck's fur, with a happy smile.

"Alright Duck," Liam's smile grew a bit more when Duck perked at the use of his name, "your mom was my mom's arcanine, her own first pokemon. That makes you and me family, okay? We're buddies, and that means we'll always stick together. You got that?" Duck woofed again and jumped forward to lick Liam's face again. Liam laughed as he had to hold Duck back. "There'll be plenty of time for licks later. For now, I gotta tell you something." Liam looked straight into Duck's eyes with grinning determination.

"My mom always said, 'Dreams are meant for dreaming, but that doesn't mean we don't do everything we can to make them real.' Well, my goal is to reach the top," Liam pointed up beyond the ceiling and up into the sky. "The very, _very_ top. And if I can't do that, then I want to have as much fun as I can along the way. You down for all that?" Liam held a fist out for a fistbump, and Duck, with no hesitation, licked it. Liam laughed again and energetically scratched around Duck's ears, immediately causing him to wag not only his tail but his entire butt. "I'll take that as a hell yeah!"

"Should I be warning you about your language, Liam?"

Liam and Duck looked over to see Professor Oak standing to the side and Ash, thankfully, nowhere in sight. Liam smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"You can, but then I could tell you the same, couldn't I?"

Oak snorted with laughter and nodded his head. Then he waved Duck and Liam over and handed over five small, standard pokeballs. Liam took them and, for the moment, put them in the little open space left inside his bag. With the bag resting on his left hip, Liam took Duck's pokeball and placed it on the right side of his belt in easy reach but hidden by his flannel.

Then Oak handed over a smartphone. It was large and bulky, due to the red protective case around it, but also within that case was a solar charger, allowing for easy charging power on the go. Liam looked at Oak with surprise.

"This is a surprise gift from Augustus. He wanted to wish you a safe journey, but with the time difference it's almost three in the morning in Kalos."

"Please tell him 'thank you' for me the next time you speak," Liam said, accepting the phone and looking down at it with more than a little awe. "He and I spoke last night, but he never mentioned a phone!"

"That is why it's called a surprise," Oak said, chuckling.

Liam excitedly opened the phone. There was no password, yet, but he noticed that a number of apps had been installed.

"They made the Pokedex into an app?" Liam asked, looking at the small red square with amusement.

Oak chuckled. "Yes. It's quite a marvel, isn't it? Modern phones have the capability of handling the biometric sequencing the regular pokedex operates with, as well as their other functions. The application taps into the phone's cameras to scan pokemon, though the default cameras would have limited success. I believe Augustus had this one upgraded, however, so you should experience no problem."

Liam was impressed. He had no idea this was possible, but hey, he had a phone now! That was nice!

Liam took a few moments to inspect some of the other apps, including one labeled "TRAINER" that was linked to the digital record of his Trainer ID. When he tapped on it, it brought up a digital copy of the card most trainers were given, equipped with a small QR code in the bottom corner. At the moment his card didn't have much information; his name, hometown, and who his service provider, or representative, was. For Liam that was Professor Oak, since he lived in the same town. For most trainers that was typically another League affiliated researcher that was based nearby, the closest gym leader, or the nearest Nurse Joy.

His Trainer ID would become more developed once Liam had an official check-up at a Pokemon Center. Duck would be registered to his name, as would any other pokemon he caught and had checked at the Center. Other ID information, like the amount of money in his League provided trainer account–which Liam had decided to opt into using–what gym badges he had obtained, even his _attempts_ for a gym badge; all were recorded there.

Only one other app seemed to have already been downloaded. It was a trainer's map of Kanto with the various designated Routes and other officiated areas–each included a list of what pokemon were found there and the commonality of their appearance. He could even pin locations out in the wild that he found specific pokemon, and link that pin to photos he had taken. That would be useful, for sure, but the photo option was a nice touch.

Curious, Liam opened the pokedex app and pointed the camera at Duck. A nondescript picture of a growlithe appeared, which began rotating with other pictures of growlithe in different common poses. Then, in a feminine mechanical voice, the pokedex detailed it's information on Duck.

 _Growlithe, the Puppy Pokemon. Growlithe are pokemon of pleasant demeanors and great diligence. Very loyal, they typically won't move unless their trainer commands it. They drive enemies away by barking and biting._

 _This Growlithe is: Male. Known Moves: Roar, Crunch, Flare Blitz, Heat Wave. Ability: Flash Fire._

Liam's eyes were wide with surprise. Duck had advanced moves like that already? He looked to Professor Oak, who nodded along with understanding.

"Likely, Duck inherited these moves from his mother. Though Crunch may have come from Liepard."

Liam nodded and looked down to where Duck leaned affectionately against his legs. "I figured, but he's only two weeks old. Can he really use Flare Blitz and Heat Wave already?"

Professor Oak shrugged and beckoned them to follow as he turned to walk back to the front entrance. Liam pocketed his new phone and continued after Oak.

"It depends on Duck, really," Oak began. "I've been so busy inspecting the pokemon for the other trainers that I let your father take care of Duck. That and he never was mine to begin with. What I can tell you is, normally, pokemon as young as Duck would understand how the moves are performed, but lack the necessary skill and power. Of course, every once in a while there's a newborn able to use stronger moves off the bat, but that's very rare.

"Then there's the question of whether Growla helped Duck with any of his moves. That's normally done in the wild, but since Duck was born domestic and Growla has been trained for so long it's up in the air whether or not she would have gone the extra mile."

Liam grinned as Professor Oak finished speaking, the two of them now standing next to the lab's front door. "So I won't know until we test them out. Professor Oak, you could have just said that."

Oak chuckled and opened the door. "Perhaps, but I wouldn't be an academic then, would I?"

They both laughed and Liam walked outside, Duck trotting along after him.

"One last thing, Liam," Oak said. "Don't worry about the recoil from Flare Blitz. Using it once or twice won't be enough to make a difference at Duck's power level."

"But more than that, and the damage will start adding up. Got it, Professor."

Liam turned away and looked over the view from the top of the hill. From it, he could see all of Pallet Town, all the way down to the small docks extending out into the bay. From there, he could see out onto the stretching ocean. In that direction laid Cinnabar Island. If Liam's planned route worked out, he'd be returning from there. For now, however, it was in the opposite direction that he'd be going.

Liam took a deep breath in before slowly letting it out. Breathing in again, he began to jog down the stairs from the lab and back onto the dirt road below. He heard Duck bark in excitement and begin to run down the hill next to the stairs.

"Bye Professor Oak," Liam hollered. "I'll call you when I reach Viridian City!"

"Goodbye, Liam!" Oak called back. "Have a safe journey!"

Liam waved his hand in the air, but didn't look back. He didn't need to, Duck was running right by his side.

* * *

The two had stopped running once they hit the town border, marked by a small sign saying in quaint letters "Welcome to Pallet Town!" and a wide open field with small clusters of trees dotting the landscape.

Liam had walked parts of this field on and off for the last two months whenever he felt the need to get away from Pallet Town. Ironic, that he escaped from the quiet of Pallet Town, so foreign to him and his big city ways, by going out into an even quieter field. But then he was really just getting away from his father's home. Nevertheless, those trips had helped Liam learn a little bit of the surrounding landscapes and what pokemon lived there.

In the beginnings of Route One there mostly lived Pidgey, Rattata, and Spearow, though the occasional Mankey and Oddish appeared. Not too far a distance away was a small river that was home to Magikarp, Goldeen, and one surprisingly calm Gyarados. None of them interested Liam enough to warrant a capture, and while they could make good training for Duck–except the Gyarados, of course–none of the wild pokemon that he had spotted had seemed large enough, strong enough, or experienced enough to be worth battling. Liam's conscience wouldn't let him battle the pokemon and then leave them, injured, to fend for themselves, and so he was being picky with battle partners. Arguably, they didn't have much to fend for themselves from in the area, but the lack of predator pokemon on Route One meant that the species here typically roamed in large bands and flocks as a way of expressing dominance. Even the notable pokemon, at least around here, would have trouble fighting ten opponents at once.

Liam also didn't want to piss off any of those groups. He and Duck didn't need to be the one in a ten versus one situation.

Nevertheless, after about two hours of walking, Liam was getting bored of the monotony, and while he adored his new partner Duck didn't make the best of conversation partners. Liam had taken to scanning a pokemon with his phone whenever a new one appeared, but the lack of variety here ran up that distraction quickly.

So Liam made the executive decision to stop and practice Duck's moves.

"Let's stop here for a bit," Liam said to Duck, pausing and looking around.

Duck obediently stopped and sat down at Liam's feet, looking up to him for instruction. When Liam found what he was looking for he stepped away from the path, but a silent, single finger pointed at Duck was enough for him to stay and sit where he was. Liam didn't look to see whether Duck had actually stayed, he had spent enough time around Growla to know he would. It was an intrinsic part of growlithe and arcanine to listen to the commands of their trainers, voiced or not. It was simply a part of their famed loyalty.

Liam inspected a tree standing next to the dirt road. Looking up into the branches, Liam leaned around and tried to spot any pokemon that may get disturbed inside. Unable to spot any, Liam grabbed a thin, low hanging branch, not much thicker than one of his fingers and about as long as his entire arm, and snapped it off. As Liam walked back to Duck he picked off the few leaves that had been on the branch, now just a stick. Kneeling, he held the stick up by both ends in front of Duck.

"We're going to practice your moves. First up is Crunch. When I tell you to, use it on this stick, ok?" Duck nodded his head in understanding, and stood up into a battle ready pose. "Ok, Duck. Crunch!"

If Liam had blinked he would have missed it, but a cunning glimmer lit up in Duck's eyes as he heard the command. With a surprising amount of ferocity, Duck opened his mouth as wide as he could and revealed sharp fangs. With a quick motion, Duck had his jaws around the stick, his back teeth–which had the most grip and crushing power–easily snapping the stick in those two places. Despite that, Duck released and, before the section of the stick in his mouth could even come loose, snapped his jaws together again in between the two sections of wood that remained. Duck released again, but this time he sat back with the same happy look in his eyes as usual, the stick in his mouth pushing forward to his front teeth and stick out from either side of his muzzle.

Liam let out a surprised, breathy laugh as he passed the two remained sticks into one hand. With the other he scratched the top of Duck's head, causing him to wag his tail in happiness. Then, Liam held his hand open, palm up, below Duck's mouth. Obediantly Duck released the stick into that hand. It was wet with saliva, but Liam didn't mind.

Liam stood back up then walked to the middle of the road. Looking toward the way to Viridian City, Liam glanced at Duck before giving him a coy smile. He raised the hand with the single stick up into the air, and immediately Duck perked up. His ears were up, and both his tail and butt were wiggling in excitement, but still, he stayed where he was. Liam's smile widened, and then he threw the stick down the path.

"Fetch!" With surprising speed Duck was running after that stick, easily gaining on it, and caught it in the air with a small jump. He deftly landed on all four paws, and then eagerly ran back to Liam before placing the stick at Liam's feet. Liam bent down and rubbed the corner of Duck's jaw, getting the usual tail wag reaction.

Liam knelt down again. With one last section of the stick in each hand, he rammed each straight down into the path. They stood parallel to each other, but about two feet apart. Liam stood, and with a short whistle walked back down the path towards Pallet Town, Duck following. Liam stopped after about twenty feet, then turned to face the two sticks. Duck turned to face them as well, though Liam didn't see the tense form of a battle ready pose. Idly he wondered it that cunning look would return again, or if that was reserved for dark type moves.

"This time it'll be Heat Wave," Liam explained. Walking around Duck, he pointed again and continued to walk on until he was about half way between Duck and the sticks, and a few feet off of the path. "When I say, try to hit those two sticks. If you can't hit them from there, that's fine. You ready?" Duck nodded, then adjusted his footing until he was in a better position. He waited.

"Heat Wave!"

Duck opened his mouth wide, though he didn't bare his teeth like with Crunch, and with a short howl released an orange wave of fiery hot breath. In theory, it should be strong enough to burn, widespread enough to hit multiple targets, and ideally, he would be able to hit, with accuracy, from across a battlefield. However, as with many ranged attacks, Heat Wave could sputter out before reaching the target. Unlike moves like Flamethrower, which was a more coalesced form of fire and energy, Heat Wave's wider attack range meant that it didn't go as far. Liam wasn't sure, but presumably, the attack's width and range could be consciously altered with training. It was something to look into.

For now, however, Liam would have to focus on general improvements. Duck's Heat Wave attack, while definitely having the width, sputtered out not far after Liam's position, and by then had already lost most of its heat. The attack made about twelve feet, but at what range would there be any actual damage?

"Duck!" Liam called. "Come to about where I'm standing."

Duck woofed in confirmation and walked further along until he stood in the middle of the rood across from Liam. "Okay, try again. Heat Wave."

Duck released the attack again, and this time Liam definitely felt more power thanks to his proximity. It was strong, strong enough that Liam imagined the attack would have dried out any grass around Duck if he wasn't standing on a dirt path. Yet, despite that, the power felt a little lacking. Even with Duck's young age in consideration. Maybe it was just Liam, and he didn't know what to gauge the attack against, but either way, Heat Wave could use a bit of improvement.

This time the attack reached the two sticks, as Liam had thought it would, and while they didn't combust and become charred, there was a significant darkening of color on this side of the wood. Liam walked over to inspect them while Duck stayed where he was. Definitely an improvement. They weren't quite blackened, but visibly darker on the one side. And these were fresh off the tree, meaning that they weren't as easy to burn as the brush would have. So at ten feet, on average Liam supposed, they could aim for a burn on their opponents but not any real damage. Good to know.

"Five feet this time, Duck." Liam stepped off to the side as Duck came forward. "Last time. Heat Wave."

Once more Duck breathed out a gale of hot breath, but this time the sticks were more clearly affected. They didn't catch, as Liam had expected, but they did quickly blacken to charcoal and crumble away. When it looked like there was nothing left, Liam glanced quickly at Duck, whose eyes watched him for confirmation, and clapped his hands once. Duck halted his attack, and with another clap, this time more energetic, he happily trotted over to Liam.

"Good boy!" Liam petted Duck on both sides of his neck, at the base of the skull, and was rewarded with happy tail wags, a wiggling butt, and Duck stretching his head high up into the air. When Liam finally felt like he had done enough, he placed his hands on his knees and looked Duck in the eyes.

"You want to play a game?" He asked, and Duck barked in excitement. "Good, because… tag!"

Liam lightly swiped at Duck's nose, then took off in a sprint down the road. Duck was surprised, and more than a little confused at first, but as Liam continued to run, looking back in expectation, he happily jumped forward and began to run after Liam.

The two ran and ran, trading tags and chasing one another. Occasionally one would get tired, normally Liam but sometimes Duck, and when that happened they would pause to rest for a minute or two, and then the game was back on. It was a fun and exciting way for Liam to learn more about Duck's stamina. While it certainly seemed like a lot, especially since their game was going on for almost thirty minutes, Liam had the gut feeling that once they stopped playing Duck would be out for a while. Honestly, Liam felt the same way, but they were bonding and that was more important to him than some sore muscles tonight and tomorrow.

Liam was running away, having succeeded in evading getting tagged for almost two whole minutes–a personal record he took some sad pride in–when Duck jumped and landed on his back. They both went tumbling with a pained "Oof!" as they hit the hard packed dirt. When the dust called up from their fall settled, Liam found himself facedown on the ground, head on its side to avoid a mouthful of dirt, Duck laying on top of him, and both of them panting and sweaty.

"Okay," Liam huffed. "You win. This time." Liam felt the need to remind Duck that he wouldn't always win, though Liam knew that wouldn't always be true. "Duck: one, Liam: zero. Will you please get off me now?"

Duck woofed in tired agreement and stepped off of him. Thank heaven that he was light, Liam didn't want to imagine what that would feel like when Duck eventually became an arcanine.

Liam sat up, took a deep, gulping breath, then looked around them. They were farther out than he had ever been, but Liam had heard that Route One only took about four hours to cross. More if you stopped often to catch pokemon or train. Their brief exercise with the sticks only took a few minutes, so Liam felt he and Duck were probably a little ahead of the curve. They had been running for thirty minutes, after all.

To their right was the beginning of a forest, replacing the open fields with tall trees, whose low branches were inching closer and closer together. To their left was a bend in the river, running towards Viridian City. On the edge of the road sat an orange bike, and beyond that sitting at the bank was a girl. She was a few years younger than Liam but older than a beginner trainer, and not one of the new trainers from Pallet Town, Liam had already met them all and none had the shocking orange hair that she did.

Curious, and deciding he might as well, Liam stood up and called down to her.

"Hey!" She looked up and back, and Liam saw a fishing pole in her hands. "You fishing for water pokemon?"

"Yeah! Wanna join me?" She asked.

"Sure! Thanks!"

With heavy steps and heavier breaths, Liam carefully made his way down the small slope running along the edge of the path and down onto the flat bank sitting a little bit above the water. Duck followed him, his breathing not as heavy but still audible. Liam sat down on the girl's right and adjusted his bag so that it sat behind him. Duck plopped down on his right and laid his head in Liam's lap. Liam smiled down at him and began to trail his finger's through the tan fur on the top of Duck's head.

" _Bonjour_. I'm Liam." He held out his free left hand.

"Same. I'm Misty." Misty reached over and shook his hand. "If you don't mind my asking, are you from Kalos?"

Liam nodded. "Yeah. I was born here in Kanto, but I moved to Lumiose City with my mom when I was five. I lived there for ten years, but moved to Pallet Town about two months ago."

"I've always wanted to visit Lumiose City! The Prism Tower seems so romantic, and the Kalosian language sounds so beautiful!"

Liam grinned at her enthusiasm. "The tower is actually where the city's gym is located."

"Really? I never knew that."

"Yeah. It tends to change themes with the different gym leaders. They get elected by a city vote. When I first moved out there I think it was a steel type gym, but then the leader became part of the Elite Four so he was replaced by this woman who liked poison types. Snake was in fashion at the time, if I remember right, but when the next year came around she was booted out for a flying type trainer. That's who's there now."

Misty listened with a surprised look, then looked down at her lap. "That's so weird. I don't know how I would feel, becoming a gym leader, only to get kicked out a year later just because I wasn't fashionable anymore."

Liam nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Lumiose is kinda cutthroat when it comes to it's gym leaders, but the people just want someone who represents them properly. That's why the current leader has been there for a few years. Her pokemon are elegant, but strike hard, and that's what Lumiose people want to be. Or most of them, at least."

"I guess that makes sense." Misty looked out into the water, and kept her eyes there. Liam sat next to her in silence, not quite sure what got her to be quiet like that. Most of the people he had told about Lumiose thought it was quirky then went on to talk about other Kalos things. Maybe she had been a gym leader herself, or thought about becoming one? Either way, it wasn't Liam's place to pry.

Liam sat there for a little while, catching his breath and enjoying a break. Sitting on the edge of the bank, his feet dangled just off the surface of the water. If he reached just a little bit, he could probably kick it…

"So," Misty said, tentatively starting up their conversation again, "why did you move back to Kanto?"

"Oh," came out before Liam could stop it. He glanced between Misty and the water, conscious now of the light petting he was giving Duck. "It's… a little personal, but my mom died a few months ago. I didn't have my trainer license yet, so I was sent to live with my dad. He's one of Professor Oak's assistants."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Liam glanced at her, and she really did seem apologetic. As if she had lost a family member once, too. Liam could commiserate, but decided not to broach that topic.

"It's okay, I guess. I still miss her a lot, and my father and I don't have a close relationship, but I was close with my mom's fiance in Kalos, he's a researcher there. Plus my growlithe–his name is Duck, by the way–is the son of my mom's arcanine. Growla was my mom's first pokemon, too, so… yeah, I'm okay. Not good, but I'm moving on."

Liam smiled, as best he could with the current conversation topic, and Misty smiled in return. Lightly, she reached over to pet Duck and scratch behind one of his ears. Duck, who was happily dozing, woofed lightly at her touch and stuck his tongue out a bit, his tail beginning to flit back and forth. They both laughed a little, and Liam felt some of the tension drain from the atmosphere.

"So," Misty began again, "you must be a new trainer if you didn't have your license a few months ago, and Duck seems a little on the smaller side, too."

"Just started today, actually. It's been fun, so far." Liam scratched a little more on Duck's neck, but didn't get a response.

"You're a little old to be starting out fresh. Are you doing it to just get away, or did the interest suddenly hit you? I know I left home so I could get away from my sisters. They can be pretty overbearing."

Liam laughed. "The latter, kinda. My mom was a breeder in Lumiose, and she was working with my step dad on this research project of his. I was hoping to learn under her and help out with my dad's studies, but my mom said I had to go out on my own journey first. I liked pokemon, but I didn't have an interest in going out into the rest of the world. Why should I have, I was in Lumiose City! Just about everything I could ever want or need, right there! So I put my journey off for as long as I could. I wanted to save up some more money. I wanted to wait until a better time of year. This and that. You can find a lot of excuses when you live in a big city, let me tell you."

Misty laughed alongside him. She didn't ask any follow up questions, but then, Liam supposed she didn't need to. She could connect the dots well enough.

"Now here I am," Liam continued with a shrug of the shoulders, "on a pokemon journey because my mom wanted me to and so I can get away from my father. Part of me, though, wants to do it to reach the top." Liam laughed then. "The top of what, I have no idea. Maybe breeding, or battling, or something." He looked down, and curled his fingers in Duck's warm fur. "Whatever it is, I really just want to have a good time along the way. I've got a year until the Indigo Conference, and the rest of my life after that. I've got time to figure out a goal, and I'm going to enjoy that time as much as I can."

"Huh, I never thought of it that way. I like it though! Train, but don't freak out about hitting your goals in by a deadline because there's always next time! Plus, that next time just means more time to train!"

"Exactly!" Liam sat back a bit, supporting himself with both hands. Duck rumbled a bit now that Liam wasn't petting him, but he continued to doze. "How about you, Misty? What're you trying to do out here? You said you left home because of your sisters."

"I want to become the world's best water pokemon master!" Misty pumped her fist into the air, and in a way, it reminded Liam of Ash. Rugged determination, and a stubborn mindset that won't step down from a challenge. Although, Liam was pretty sure Misty had put more thought into her future than Ash did.

"You really like that kind of pokemon, then?"

"You bet! Their the best! I grew up around them all my life, and their fighting style is so flexible that they can fit almost any situation! I learned a lot about them from my sisters, they specialize too, and so I know that I can do it. I already have a staryu, and before you know it I'll have the best water pokemon in the world!"

Liam was pretty sure that Misty didn't realize that she had stood up in the midst of her motivational speech, but nevertheless, he was clapping and laughing. "Marvelous! Inspiring! Chase your dreams, Misty, your dreams!"

"I will Liam, I will! And I want you to chase your dreams with me!" Misty held a hand down to him. Liam looked up at her in surprise. Was she… Liam thought she was! It was certainly out of the blue, but...

"Misty, are you inviting me to travel with you?"

"Yes, I am! Are you in!"

Liam almost couldn't believe it. He couldn't have stopped the grin on his face if he had wanted to. He brought his legs up and tucked them underneath himself. He curled one arm under Duck, and with the other, he grabbed Misty's hand. "You know it!"

Misty laughed triumphantly as she helped him up. "You just watch world! I, Misty, with my friend Liam, will conquer you!" Her fist was up in the air again, striking as high as she could reach with determination. Liam was laughing, and not even trying to hide it, but he matched her with his own fist. Though he merely held his up in the air.

"Hell yeah! Conquering!"

They both laughed, though Misty might have been laughing for future triumph.

Then Misty's fishing rod began to shake and quiver. Misty gasped and immediately began tugging on it. "It's a sign, Liam! My first challenge on the way to being a master!"

Liam eyes the water and stepped back. "It's a big one, I'll give you that much." Carefully, he set Duck, who was beginning to wake up, on the slope leading up to the road and away from any splashing water. As a fire type, he wouldn't appreciate cold river water disrupting the heat he needed to maintain inside his body.

With a loud battle cry, and a giant heave, Misty brought her fishing rod up, and with it came not a pokemon, but a waterlogged person. A very Ash Ketchum person.

"Ash?" Liam asked, not quite sure if he was alive or not. Thankfully, Ash began to cough up water almost immediately.

"Aw," Misty whined, "it's just a kid. Oh! And a pokemon!"

Liam looked over, and indeed, in Ash's arms was the devil pikachu from earlier.

"Are you okay?" Misty asked, crouching down next to them. Liam opened his mouth to warn Misty of the devil rat, but Ash, in typical Ash fashion, answered before he could.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Not you! You're Pikachu!" Misty yelled, and then there was the unmistakable sound of a might slap, and for the first time in Liam's fifteen years, the first time in the two months he had known Ash Ketchum, he felt sorry for the boy. Did he really deserve to be slapped? After getting swept up in a river?

"You have to get it to the Pokemon Center!" Misty continued on.

"But I… I don't know where that is," Ash said quietly, staring down at the devil rat. The noticeably weak and not very responsive devil rat, Liam's mind reminded him.

"Just follow the road this way," Liam said, pointing towards Viridian City. His heart was too good for a vindictive fear of electric rodents. "If you run the entire way, you should be able to get to the end of Route One in under an hour. If you run like your pokemon's life depends on you it should be closer to thirty."

Ash jumped to his feet. "Right! I gotta go!" He ran up the slope, almost as if he was possessed by a mankey, but paused at the top when he saw Misty's bike.

Oh no.

In five seconds flat Ash was on the bike, Pikachu in the little basket in the front, and they were off and flying down the road.

"No! My bike!" Misty yelled, running up the slope. Liam ran after her, whistling for Duck to follow, but by the time they reached the top all they had were Ash's parting words echoing behind him.

"I'll return it some day!"

Misty stomped the ground and paced around Liam, arms crossed in righteous fury and the embodiment of wrath in her eyes. "That little… Oh! When I get my hands on him!"

"Misty. Misty!"

"WHAT!" Misty glared at Liam with seething rage, but he kept his hands up in a pacifying manner and looked her straight in the eye.

"He's going to the Pokemon Center in Viridian City. We just have to go there too, and we can get your-" Liam cut himself off as something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Looking up, he saw great, dark storm clouds begin to quickly roll in, a large flock of spearow crying as they flew away from it. "We need to find some cover."

Misty looked at him in confusion, but when she turned to look in the same direction she cursed mighty and hard. Liam couldn't help but grin at her.

"Well, well, Misty the Potty Mouth. Good to know."

"Can it, Liam! I have a sleeping bag, but nothing to protect me from the rain! I'm going to get soaked!"

Liam looked at her in surprise. "Really, nothing?"

"I didn't need one! With my bike, I could get from one Center to another no problem!"

Liam sighed, but brought his bag around and began to dig around, brushing his spare pokeballs to the side. "Lucky for you I have a tent we can cover up with. I made sure to pack a big one, so there should be plenty of room for all of us."

Misty clasped her hands together and looked at Liam with wide, happy eyes. "You're a lifesaver!"

"Yeah yeah, help me find somewhere good to drape this. "

"Right!"

As Misty began searching, Liam looked down to Duck. He in turn looked up at Liam, eyes glimmering with puppy life and excitement. Liam breathed in, then sighed.

"You like our new friend?"

Duck woofed happily. Liam looked back at the nearing storm clouds, then joined Misty in finding a good patch to lay low. With perky steps, Duck trotted behind him.

* * *

The rain was pouring all around them, pounding down on the blue teepee tent Liam had packed. Together, Misty and Liam nailed his tent down with some plastic spikes a little ways off the dirt road, but with the storm only a few minutes away had forgone the tent poles in favor of tying the top to a low hanging branch with a bit of line Liam had. The two of them and Duck had quickly scrambled inside just as the first few drops were beginning to crash down. Now they sat inside Liam's half done tent, windows tied up and door zipped shut, listening to heavy drops.

Liam had decided to go big or go home when picking his tent out, having planned to let at least a few of his pokemon out at night while traveling. The website he had ordered from had said it fit six people; there was plenty for only Liam, Misty, and Duck.

Lightning flashed, followed by the sharp crack of thunder, and Duck jumped into the air before running into Liam's arms. He whined and burrowed close to Liam's chest.

"Aw, it's okay, bud. The thunder and lightning won't hurt you." Despite saying that, Liam stroked up and down Duck's back, enjoying the warmth radiating off from him.

"This storm rolled in pretty quickly," Misty said, reaching over and petting Duck too. "So it should pass quickly, right?"

Liam shrugged. "I've only lived here for two months, so I can't really say, but there have been a decent amount of storms in the area. Sometimes they're short, sometimes long. With how strong its pouring, though, it should die out in a few hours."

Misty sighed, then there was another crack of thunder and lightning. Duck whined again, then dug his head up under Liam's shirt. His orange fur was hot against Liam's stomach, and Duck's warm breath almost tickled. Liam almost laughed, but knew that Duck wouldn't appreciate that. Instead, Liam would let Duck cower for a little while, gently petting his exposed fur.

"So have you been to Viridian City before?" Misty asked, smiling at the sight that, Liam had no doubts, looked ridiculous.

"Once. My father tried taking me on a shopping trip when I first came to Kanto. A situation at Professor Oak's lab had us leaving the city before the first hour was up." If the flatness in Liam's voice wasn't enough to say this was a common occurrence, the roll of his eyes certainly got the message across. "Since we knew I'd be setting off on a journey so soon after arriving, we never tried again. You?"

Misty leaned back and looked up at the sagging top of the tent. "My sisters and I spend a few days here every year. As a sort of… family trip, I guess. We go to watch the Indigo Conference, and pass through Viridian while traveling."

Liam nodded in understanding, but when Misty didn't say anything more he awkwardly looked away.

Neither said anything after that, not quite sure what to say. Duck was trembling under Liam's shirt, but when Liam offered to return him to his pokeball Duck refused and cuddled closer. The only thing filling the silence was the rain and occasional clap of thunder. Liam looked around, trying to find anything that could spark a conversation. Then his eyes landed on Misty's small red knapsack laying on the ground next to her. It wasn't drawn completely closed, and Liam could see part of a pokeball peeking under what looked like a yellow shirt like the one Misty was currently wearing.

"Hey," he said, catching her attention. "If we're planning on journeying around together, you'll need a bigger bag than that. I can barely fit enough food for myself in my bag, let alone enough for my pokemon. You won't be able to fit anything in yours."

Misty glanced down at her little bag, surprised, then back up to Liam with a thoughtful, if somewhat irked, frown. "Yeah, I guess. It's what I had while we were passing through Viridian after the Conference."

An idea came to Liam as she said that, and Liam scooted around so that he was facing Misty fully. "What made you want to stay around here, anyways? It's not like there are powerful pokemon or anything."

Misty sighed, then picked up her bag and removed the pokeball there. Cradled in her hands, Misty stared down at it. "I've always been stuck in my sisters' shadows. I'm the youngest of four sisters, and since we're all interested in water pokemon I can never measure up to them. I do have a brother who's younger than me, but since he's the only boy even he gets treated differently. This is a chance for me to train, away from my siblings, so that I could prove that I'm more than some little girl following in their footsteps."

Misty dropped her head and released a long sigh. "I try to keep a positive attitude, but it's been days since my sisters left and I haven't caught anything!"

Liam watched her, thinking back to the big emotions she had shown earlier. Then there was a crack of lightning again, and as the thunder boomed afterwards Duck shook a little more. Liam rested his hands on the lump where Duck's head was and smiled down at where he imagined Duck's eyes were.

"If it's any consolation," Liam said, looking back to Misty, "I have a two week old growlithe that's scared of thunder. I think we both have a lot of work ahead of us."

"Yeah…" Misty agreed softly, though she didn't look over at Liam and he could practically here the frown on her face.

"Perk up!" The cheer in his voice was clear. He reached over and nudged Misty's shoulder. "We'll work together! We'll become the best of the best, just like we agreed! Isn't that right, bud?"

Duck woofed weakly, Liam's shirt bouncing slightly. Liam grinned, and when Misty looked up she had a grin of her own. She nodded, and after that, they waited the storm out with a happy atmosphere.

* * *

In a stroke of good luck that the storm died out after only an hour. Despite that, the compact dirt road to Viridian City was a muddy mess. Duck was returned to his pokeball, so that Liam wouldn't have to clean him off later, and they packed up Liam's tent back into its sleeve. Soon enough the two of them were slipping and sliding and splashing their way to Viridian City.

"I walk into the bathroom," Misty said, telling a story of some of her sister's pokemon, "and there Feraligatr is, a clamperl clamped on to each hand, striking muscle poses in the mirror!"

Liam roared with laughter and almost fell backward from slipping while he did. Misty laughed too, helping Liam steady himself.

Then they saw it.

Misty's destroyed, burnt, charcoal-ed bike.

Ash was dead. Dead at the hands of one Misty, future water master. Of this, Liam was certain.

Hell hath no fury that could stop Misty at that moment as she inspected the busted tires and snapped chain. There was a fire in her eyes then, that no water pokemon could put out, that made Liam promise himself to never go too far with his teasing against Misty. The retribution that he would receive was horrifying even as he stopped himself from imagining it.

That Misty was able to effortlessly lift the bike, place it behind her head, and rest it on her shoulders was impressive. That she began to run down the road, completely dismissing any mud in her way, without even a barked "Come," told Liam that she was on the warpath. Such an intense warpath that Liam didn't say anything and only jogged after her.

At their pace, they made the outer stretches of Viridian City in about an hour. An empty police box for incoming travelers, as well as a transition from dirt road to pavement, marked the beginning service area. Liam paid the box no mind and instead followed Misty as she dutifully continued on.

Viridian City wasn't as large as Celadon or Saffron City, and it didn't have a major port like Vermillion City or a famous attraction like Fuschia City's Safari Zone. There were no skyscrapers here, but there were a number of high rise and office buildings looming above Liam's head. Viridian was the closest major city to the Indigo Plateau, however, and that meant trainers came in droves near the end of every League season to participate and watch the conference held there, and then come through again when they left. That was good for business, but also meant that the Pokemon Center wouldn't have a lot of people in it today. The Indigo Conference had ended a few days prior, and so everyone coming from it would have already passed through Viridian on their way home. Likely it would only be beginning trainers from the surrounding areas. Officially, League season for the Pokémon gyms would begin at the end of the week, and so no eager, battle ready veterans would be waiting at the Center to battle the Viridian Gym and obtain one of their eight badges.

Liam certainly wasn't going to be taking it on. Oh no. From what Gary and the other Pallet Town trainers had told him, Viridian City Gym Leader Giovanni was a beast of a trainer who only the cream of the crop could defeat. It was rumored that he occasionally trained with the Elite Four, though Liam somewhat doubted the validity of those rumors.

No, instead Liam would move on to Pewter City and battle the gym there. It was the nearest gym after Viridian, and from what the other Pallet trainers had mentioned the leader there accepted challenges from all levels. Of course, Liam had to get there first.

Before long the two of them arrived at the Viridian Pokemon Center. It was a large, round building at the center of a major turnabout. The Center wasn't bulbous, per se, but it was a round building, with a large overhang over the front wall, which was made almost entirely of glass and windows. In the late afternoon, the light from the inside was drowned out by the daylight, but Liam was sure that, at night, the light streaming out probably attracted trainers like a venomoth to a flame.

Tunnels running under the turnabout connected the Pokemon Center to the rest of the city without disrupting the flow of traffic, which at this time of day was becoming heavy. As Liam and Misty walked up a concrete staircase to the front doors, Liam looked through the windows and saw that the building was almost abandoned. The main room of the Center was an open concept floor plan, with Nurse Joy's desk at the far end of the room, a few rows of desks and computers off to right, and a decently sized open cafeteria to the left. A staircase running along another part of the wall led up to a balcony on the second floor, which led into the rest of the Center. There was Ash, sitting at one of the computer desks, with a phone extension at his ear; he was probably talking with Professor Oak or his mom. The only others Liam could see was a girl, in her late teens, reading a book in the cafeteria and a chansey manning the desk at the back.

Ash had just hung up on his call, looking down at his lap with a frown on his face, when they walked in.

"Now I've got you!" Misty yelled as soon as she entered, running for Ash and looking like she was going to make her bike into a spontaneous weapon. Liam entered behind her, but stopped near the entrance. Warily, he watched from afar, briefly noting that the girl in the cafeteria was watching the two as well.

"Hey! What happened to your bike?" Ash asked, and Liam resisted the urge to sigh.

"What happened to my bike? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BIKE?" Misty yelled, taking a step forward and bearing down on Ash. "YOU happened to my bike! This is what happened to it after you _stole_ it!" Misty took another step closer, and Ash rushed away to protect himself behind another computer desk. "I can see why you let your pokemon get- wuh-woah!"

Liam hurried over as Misty lost her balance. He wasn't fast enough to catch her before she fell, her bike banging onto the floor, but with an offered hand he helped her up and propped her bike against his leg.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to my bike!" Misty yelled, undeterred by her fall.

"I'll make up for it! I promise I will." He looked genuinely apologetic, but Liam somewhat doubted Ash would remember his promise, let alone collect the amount of money that would be needed to buy one.

The only people who made a decent living as Pokemon trainers were those affiliated with the League, who routinely had a large amount of challengers, like Gym Leaders, or were contracted by the government to help in certain matters with their powerful pokemon. The pokemon journey was a rite of passage that was a tradition for young kids to go through–though the amount of kids that did wasn't one hundred percent–before returning home, returning to their education, and eventually going on to whatever job or career they obtained. They were still trainers, even as adults years later, and were able to challenge the gyms and take part in League conferences–if they qualified–but life, and a need for income, took hold. Of course, there were always those individuals who enjoyed the traveling and the camping, and would keep to that lifestyle for years, sometimes decades.

Liam had the feeling Ash would be one of those people. That didn't mean he'd save enough money for a bike, though.

Nevertheless, that didn't change their current predicament.

"I can't do anything about your bike right now," Ash explained to Misty, glancing at two white doors set next to Joy's station, a red cross painted on them. Those doors led back into the medical facilities of the Center.

Misty veritably growled. "I don't want any of your excuses, kid! I want a-"

Misty paused as Liam laid a hand on her shoulder. "Misty, why don't we go grab a bite and relax over in the cafeteria?"

"What?" Misty whined, looking up at him. "But my bike!"

Liam nodded towards the white doors. "His pikachu's being treated right now. We can talk to him about your bike after he knows it's okay."

Misty looked torn, glancing between Liam, Ash, and the doors, before finally letting out a surrendering sigh and letting her shoulders drop. "Yeah, you're right." She looked at Ash, her face serious. "I won't forgive you for stealing and destroying my bike, but I hope your pikachu is okay."

Ash gave her a small smile, but his shoulders were still drooped and he continued to glance over at the doors. "Thanks. And… I'm sorry about you're bike. Really. I was just worried about Pikachu."

Misty nodded, and turned to leave, but Liam kept his hand on her shoulder. He looked down at her, eyebrow raised. It was a look that said, "Come on, now." Misty sighed and turned back to Ash.

Her internal struggle could be seen by the way she clenched her fists and didn't look Ash in the eye, but still, she said, "I'm… sorry about slapping you earlier. That was wrong of me."

Ash brightened a little bit. "Does that mean we're even?" He asked, a little excitement filtering into his voice.

" _What?_ " Misty ground out, and before she could do anything Liam wrapped an arm around her waist and began to drag her away, her broken bike in his other hand. "If you think your gonna weasel your way out of this you have another thing coming!" She swiped at him, and missed completely as Liam dragged her away, but still, she struggled and clawed at the air in Ash's general direction. "Get over here!" She yelled. "Come on, Liam. Let me at him!"

"Nope!" Liam said, tightening his arm and shooting Ash an apologetic look. "We're going to have something to eat!"

Thankfully, at that moment, the medical doors opened, revealing Nurse Joy and another chansey. She spoke with Ash for a few moments, and then Ash was following chansey back into the medical bay and Nurse Joy was back at her station. With Ash no longer in sight, Misty calmed down and stopped struggling in his arms. Liam let her go, wary that she would go sprinting for the med doors, but she didn't and instead took hold of her bike.

"You're too nice," was all she said before she leaned her bike against one of the tables in the cafeteria area and walked over to a window in the wall, which looked into a large kitchen. Inside Liam spotted a young man in a cook's outfit waiting by the window playing around on his phone. Liam would have followed Misty, but then remembered that he needed to check in with Nurse Joy first so that she knew he and Misty were actually trainers, and not just people trying to bum food off of the Center.

Liam walked over to her desk. She smiled up at him. "Hello! Welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Center! How can I help you?"

Liam smiled in return. "I'd like to register for the Indigo League, please." Liam handed over his phone, the app with his Trainer ID open, and Duck's pokeball. "I'd also like to have my growlithe checked please. He should just be a little tired from playing too much."

Joy's smile grew a bit at that last part. "Of course! Just a moment and I'll have you registered, and then I'll check your pokemon."

Turning to her computer, Joy took a QR scanner and brought it to Liam's phone. A moment later she set his phone down and began typing away, clicking around occasionally. Liam was interested, all beginning trainers would be, but he resisted the urge to lean over the desk and look to see what she was doing. Soon enough, however, there was a beep of success and his phone was back in his hand, alongside a slick black bade case.

Liam placed it back into his pocket, and slipped the case into his bag, as Joy took Duck's pokeball and placed it into one of six spherical grooves in the top of the healing machine behind her desk. A regular sized computer monitor was placed next to the machine, angled so that both Joy and Liam could watch. The machine registered Duck in his pokeball and an image of a growlithe popped up on the monitor. When no other pokemon were placed in the machine, it whirred and the growlithe image grew and moved into the top left corner. The rest of the monitor was taken up by Duck's various statistics and signs of health. Blood pressure, heart rate, fatigue, temperature, even the amount of fire stored in the special organ he had that produced his fire-based attacks. Surprisingly, it even had Duck's nickname labeled just below the growlithe image.

"Duck seems to be in great health," Joy told him as she read the monitor too. "A little tired, but nothing that a good night's rest couldn't fix. I do see that he's a little small, though. Do you know how old he is?"

"Two weeks. His parents are my family pokemon."

Joy nodded, then moved over to her computer and began to type away. "Just adding his family history to his medical file." At Liam's confused look Joy smiled and waved a carefree hand in the air. "It's something we do with pokemon that were bred domestically. If anything happens in the future, we can consult his parents' files and see what sort of treatments were effective and which weren't. You don't happen to know their medical file numbers, would you?"

Liam shook his head in the negative. "My father is an assistant for Professor Oak, though. He'll know."

Nurse Joy let out a pleased hum and typed a little more in Duck's file. "Professor Oak, huh? Do you mind if I put that down as an emergency contact for Duck if you aren't available?"

"Please do."

Nurse Joy nodded and typed a bit more, but then she was done and over at the healing machine. She removed Duck's ball and handed it over. Liam smiled in thanks.

"Do you mind if I let him out of his ball?" He asked.

"Go right ahead!" Liam nodded in thanks, and as he walked back over to the cafeteria tapped the button on the ball. In the customary white light, Duck was released, and when the glow faded he took in his surroundings before lightly woofing up at Liam.

Liam kept walking, but waved his hand and Duck followed after him. Looking around, Liam noticed that the girl with the book was gone. Replacing her, he found Misty sitting at a table, staring at her bike in sadness, a pager in hand.

"You know staring at it won't make it better."

Misty sighed and plopped her head in her hand, propped up by her elbow. "Yeah… I'll have to throw it out. I can't afford to have it fixed."

Liam commiserated, then looked over to the window. A laminated piece of paper was propped up with the menu. It was too small to read from here. "What did you order?"

Misty sighed again, eyes not leaving her bike. "Rocky road."

Liam raised an eyebrow at her, but smiled nonetheless. "Ice cream, really?"

Misty looked up at him with a grumpy eye. "Dessert never fails to make me feel better."

Liam shrugged. "Fair enough."

Liam walked over to the window, ordered his own meal and a bowl of food for Duck, then sat with Misty and dragged her into a chat about where they would be going next. Pewter City, they decided, and began to talk about what there was to do there besides the gym and a loud _crash!_ echoed through the room.

Both of them flinched and covered their heads as shattered glass rained down from the sky light above, tinkling against the floor and scattering all over. Thankfully none fell on them. Liam looked up, and was surprised to see a black ball fall through the hole. Before it even hit the floor the ball exploded, filling the room with oily black smoke and blinding him.

Immediately Misty and Liam began to cough, covering their mouths as best they could, while Duck began to bark into the smokescreen. Awkwardly Liam tried to stand, but he stumbled into the bike and caused it to fall with almost as loud a crash as the broken skylight.

"Careful!" Misty warned. "We can't see where all that glass fell!"

"What's going on?" Liam complained.

Misty didn't answer, but soon enough the smoke cleared enough for Liam to see again. Standing in the middle of the room were two people, a man and a woman. The man had medium length blue hair coming down to about his chin while the woman had a single long arc of vividly red hair curl behind her. Both wore white and black uniforms, a large red "R" emblazoned on the front. A meowth, standing on its hind legs, was at their feet.

"Who are you?" Nurse Joy yelled.

"Who are we?" The man asked. "You mean you don't recognize us?"

"We're famous!" The woman held up a piece of paper. It was a wanted poster, with two shadowed faces on it, though their hair certainly matched up well with these two.

"Whatever you want, you won't have it!" Nurse Joy declared.

The woman laughed. "Like you can stop us! We're Team Rocket! We take what we want, when we want it!"

"And right now, we want all of the pokemon in this popsicle stand!" Shockingly, it was the meowth that spoke, his voice accented and clearly masculine. Liam had no idea that pokemon could learn to speak like humans, but there was always time to look into that more later.

They were part of Team Rocket? A gang of criminals known for stealing pokemon and doing whatever was necessary to come out on top. They were the oldest and most expansive crime syndicate in the region. The government was never able to identify and eliminate their leader. Liam glanced down at Duck, who stood by his side loyally, but was ready to attack on his order. They would try to steal Duck, too.

Liam's eyes narrowed as he glared at the pair. They were nothing more than pieces of trash in his opinion. And if that talking meowth was with them then it was just as bad, pokemon or no.

No way they were getting away with this.

"If you want any pokemon," Liam yelled, causing them to look over at him, "then you'll have to go through me!" Duck growled in agreement and took a threatening step forward.

"Yeah!" Misty took a few steps forward until she stood next to him. Already a hand was moving around inside her orange napsack. "You'll have to go through me too!" She finished, pulling out a pokeball.

She threw it, commanding "Come on out, Stella!" and what landed in front of them was a staryu of impressive size. Standing just shy of four feet, it was over one and a half times larger than most. The brown coloring of its legs was dark, and the band at the center a brilliant gold. It released a loud battle cry, and with one arm-leg motioned for their enemies to come at it.

"Ha!" The woman laughed. She held up her own pokeball. "As if you brats could beat me! Go, Ekans!"

She threw her pokeball. It opened high in the air, releasing a white light that formed into Ekans. Deep purple scales, with a golden underbelly and a gold band around its neck, as well a gold rattle at the end of its tail, Ekans opened it maw wide to reveal sharp white fangs dripping with purple venom. It struck an imposing image.

"Ekans!" She commanded, "Use Wrap!"

Slapping its tail against the ground, Ekans lunged forward with an angry hiss. It sped through the air with surprising speed, soaring over the broken glass on the floor, its angry gold eyes on Duck with a predatory hunger.

An idea sprung into Liam's mind, though he wasn't sure if it would work or not. They hadn't tested this move out earlier, they hadn't met any trainers on Route One but Misty, after all. But Ekans was coming closer, and Liam needed to make a move. He held his hand out and motioned for Misty to stay back.

"Roar!" Liam ordered.

Duck followed through and _roared_. More than a bark or a howl, it was a near deafening noise that said: "YOU DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Duck's voice shook the air, and was so powerful that Ekans fell to the ground and immediately began to slither back to its trainer. With startled hisses and scared cries, Ekans returned itself to its pokeball in a beam of red light.

"What?" The woman gasped in disbelief. Clicking her pokeball furiously, the woman cried out in frustration as Ekans refused to leave. "No! Ekans come out and fight!"

"Leave it to me Jessie!" The man said, calling on his own pokemon. What was revealed this time was a large koffing, puffs of green smog escaping from the channels that littered its body, a light purple skull and crossbones marking beneath its mouth. It levitated high up in the air, a perpetual and almost ecstatic smile on its face. "Koffing, use Smokescreen!"

Koffing laughed and its green smog began to pour out of its pores.

"Quick! Roar again!" Duck followed orders, and as the cacophony echoed around the room Koffing laughter was drowned out. It's smile was replaced with a fearful look. The smoke stopped spilling out into the air, and Koffing quickly rushed back to its trainer, returning itself as well.

"Oooh! You brat! I'll get you!" The man cried, a fist in the air and pointed at Liam.

"No James! We can't get distracted." Jessie put a hand on James shoulder, though it was clear that she was irritated by Liam as well. She looked down at her feet, where the meowth had begun to cower behind her legs. "Meowth can do it. He doesn't have a pokeball to return to."

James nodded, and together they snatched meowth up, ignoring his cries of "No! I don't wanna!" and threw him directly across the room. Meowth flew towards them, screaming and claws out as he waved his arms around. He landed not that far in front of Liam, hitting the floor hard on his face, but he quickly got to his feet and sneered at Duck and Stella.

"One more time Duck!"

Duck barked once in confirmation, then roared again. This time, however, Meowth didn't return to a pokeball, possibly because he didn't have one like Jessie and James said. All the attack resulted in was a brief pause, but when the same fear as before didn't come to Meowth he lunged at them, claws now fully extended and swiping through the air.

"Take my Fury Swipes!" Meowth cried.

Liam dry swallowed. Alright then, if that wasn't working any more then he would have to go on the offensive. "Heat Wave, Duck! You know when!"

Liam wasn't actually sure if Duck knew when to release his blast of fiery breath. Thankfully, when it seemed like Meowth would be on them in seconds Duck fired. The powerful heat waves coming from him caused the air to waver, the orange tint of fire energy curling around their enemy.

The pressure behind the blast was enough to push Meowth away. His fur took a brownish tint, and small smoke trails wafter up from where some parts of his fur had been burnt. Meowth hissed at Duck, but warily kept his distance.

"Could use your help now, Misty!"

"Right!" Stella cried again and Misty's voice. "Use Confusion, Stella! Clear away the glass!" Another cry, and then Stella was thrusting its two arm-legs forward. Suddenly, all of the glass shards on the floor began to glow a faint blue, a trademark of psychic moves.

Realizing that the Confusion attack wasn't directed at him, Meowth started forward, aiming for another Fury Swipes at Duck. But then the shards began to float up into the air, hovering at face height and grinding Meowth to a halt. The glass began to swirl around him, causing Meowth to back up in fear of being cut, but in one smooth motion Stella directed the shards all together into a single pile up against the wall on the far side of the room.

Meowth watched the glass move away, wary of it returning for a surprise attack, and Liam saw his chance.

"Flare Blitz!"

Duck howled as he jumped forward, tendrils of fiery energy licking the air around him. With great speed, he ran forward, and as he neared the bright embers began to flicker amongst his fur, radiating into the air and surrounding him. Though not a blazing ball of fire experienced pokemon utilized, Duck's attack had enough firepower and gusto to complete the job. The heat of those embers attracted Meowth's attention, as well as that of Jessie and James, but what Duck lacked in power he made up for with speed. He barreled forward, not giving Team Rocket any time for commands to be given.

On reflex, Meowth raised his hands to block the attack, but that feeble defense was nothing compared to the force of Duck's charge. Meowth wasn't fast enough to dodge, and then Duck was blasting into him. Duck didn't stop with just Meowth, however, and continued to push onwards, Meowth caught up in the attack, until he was bearing down on Team Rocket as well.

The two of them were unmoving, staring at the rapid movement with fear. Duck howled, and though the fire energy around him momentarily increased it didn't combust. Nevertheless, the power in his attack hit Jessie and James with full force. Both of them, as well as Meowth, were launched backwards, soaring in the air and smashing through the windows of the Center's front wall.

Liam wasn't sure how to react after that. Relieved? Terrified? Duck turned back to face Liam, a look of happy pride on his face. He trotted over to Liam and jumped up into his arms. Duck began to lick Liam's face, and all Liam could do was laugh. He adjusted his arms to hold Duck better, and turned to Misty with a quirked smile.

"Hell of a way to kick off a journey, wouldn't you say?"

Misty laughed, and was about to say something, but then the front doors opened and in rushed Officer Jenny, two more officers, and-

Was that Giovanni?

It was. Stern faced, dressed in a crisp black business suit, and inspecting the room with sharp eyes, it was the famous Giovanni. Liam's mouth opened and closed without a sound. What was he doing here?

"Are you two alright?" Liam ripped his eyes away from Giovanni and to the police officer standing in front of them. Shorter, with a squat nose, he looked at them with a serious expression. Liam looked past him, and saw that Jenny and the other officer was speaking with Nurse Joy. Giovanni simply stood in the center of the room, slowly turning and inspecting everything.

Liam cleared his throat, and began to feel a bit of adrenaline fade away. "I'm fine. Never even got touched."

"Same, officer," Misty said.

The officer nodded. Behind him, Jenny and the other officer rushed out of the Center towards where Team Rocket had blasted off. Jenny shouted to the officer to stay here before they were off.

The officer looked back to Liam and Misty, removing a pen and a small notepad from his pocket. "I'll need to interview you about the incident and collect your statements."

Misty nodded her head. "Of course." Then she slung her bag around her shoulder, returned Stella, and sat down at the table they had been at previously.

Liam looked down at Duck, tail wagging lightly and looking back up at him. "Come back for now, bud. I'll let you out again later." Duck woofed as he was returned.

Liam sat down as well, taking out the necklace he wore under his shirt and beginning to rub at the red stone. Doing so helped him calm down. Liam didn't have to say much, not much had really happened, and Misty was able to cover everything that had gone down, but Liam gave a clear statement of his own anyways.

Soon enough Officer Jenny returned alone and began to speak with the officer a fair distance away. While they conversed, Misty and Liam walked over to Nurse Joy, where he asked her to check on Duck again after his use of Flare Blitz, just in case. She was happy to check, and placed Duck back in the healing machine.

Liam thanked her, and was about to chat with Misty about how crazy what just happened was, when Giovanni walked over to them.

To say that Liam was surprised was an understatement. The amount of familiarity Giovanni showed Misty, however, was downright shocking.

"Misty," Giovanni had greeted amiably. He smiled politely to her, his hand held out. Misty shook it without a bit of hesitation. "It's good to see you again. I understand you helped in running off these members of Team Rocket."

Misty smiled back with a little flush of embarrassment. "Oh, it was nothing. I didn't really do much. There wasn't much to do, really…"

"Arguable." Then Giovanni turned his attention to Liam. "And you must be the boy who did the work Misty won't claim." It was a joke. Liam couldn't imagine the ever serious Giovanni telling a joke but it had just happened. Weird. Liam returned Giovanni's polite smile with one of his own.

"Liam, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Giovanni nodded. "Same." Giovanni glanced down, and for a moment his eyes stayed down. Liam glanced down as well, but all that was there was his necklace. "An interesting stone," was all that Giovanni said. "A beautiful color."

Liam blinked in surprise. "Oh, um, thank you. It's an heirloom of my mother's."

Giovanni nodded, still staring at Liam's necklace in thought, but after a moment tore his eyes away and nodded to Liam and Misty again. "Well, it was nice to meet you both. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to speak with Nurse Joy."

Giovanni looked at them expectantly, and then both jumped a little and realized that they were all still at Nurse Joy's desk. Liam turned around, took Duck's ball from the waiting Nurse Joy, and then he and Misty moved back to their table.

He looked back as soon as they sat down, but Giovanni was simply speaking with Nurse Joy. Liam turned to Misty, eyes sharp and suspicious.

"Okay, spill. How do you know him?"

Misty immediately tightened up and glanced away. "What? I don't know him."

Liam leveled her a flat look. "Misty, Giovanni knew you by name. You _blushed_. Obviously, you've met before."

"I… I…" Misty looked furiously around her, but, eventually, she hung her head in surrender and sighed defeat. "Alright. My family runs the Cerulean City Gym." Liam's eyebrows shot up. "My sisters and I are all gym leaders there."

"Oh… I wasn't expecting that." Liam looked over to Giovanni, who was seemed to have finished his business and was walking back to the front doors. "So you've met Giovanni at, what, gym leader get togethers?"

Misty shrugged. "For the first time this past conference. Gym leaders have a private tournament every year, as well as a party during each Indigo Conference, but I was looking after the gym while my sisters were at this last tournament, and I became a leader after last year's conference so I wasn't at that party."

"Huh. Well… good to know." Liam leaned back in his chair. "What does that entail? Being a leader, I mean. Are there, like, weird responsibilities you have to perform?"

Misty shrugged, and looked a little relieved that the secret was out. "Not really," she began, sitting into the back of her chair and relaxing. "We lead the gym we're a part of. Have the battles, care for the pokemon, clean the place up; the kind of things you'd expect."

Misty paused and looked up in thought with a considering hum. "As for weird… I'm not sure. There is this one thing that happens sometimes, though it's more scary than anything."

Misty leaned forward seriously, looking Liam hard in the eye.

"Sometimes gym leaders are brought on as outside consultants by the police." Liam's eyes went wide with surprise and he immediately leaned into the table with interest. Misty nodded at his surprise, a bit of a grimace on her face. "We can get called in when the police are dealing with a pokemon that's the type we specialize in. One time, on Cinnabar Island, my sister Violet had to be teleported in to take care of a Kingdra rampaging on the island. Her dewgong had been hurt so bad that he can't even battle anymore!

"Other times there are crimes going on in the area the gym is in, and the police need a leader's help in stopping the criminal when their own pokemon aren't enough. My sisters told me this story once; an old gym leader in Saffron City was helping the police subdue some criminals with his fighting pokemon, and the gym leader got _shot_!"

"Wow…" Boggled by the idea, Liam stared at Misty as he saw her in a new light. "Being a gym leader is more dangerous than I thought."

"No kidding." Misty clasped her hands together and stared down at them. "We don't have to do it, of course, but us gym leaders are role models for our communities and we take a lot of pride in that." Misty frowned and stared off into space. No doubt she was worried about her sisters, and the possibility of something happening to them.

Liam couldn't imagine what that must have been like, seeing your siblings go off to try to help others and then left to wonder whether they would come back alright. Liam didn't know much about Misty's sisters, just that they were talented water pokemon trainers, but his opinion of them definitely rose.

Liam reached over and placed his hand on hers. She looked up at him and smiled.

"How about we go outside and do some training?" He asked with a small smile.

Misty grinned at Liam and brought her bag around.

"I see that look in your eye. If you think you can beat me and Stella you've got another thing-"

Suddenly, two loud buzzes banged against the table. They looked down, and realized that it was the buzzers for the cafeteria. They had completely forgotten. They looked over at the window then saw the young cook smile and wave at them, a bowl of ice cream, a bowl of pokemon food, and Liam's own club sandwich sitting on the window counter and ready.

"How about we eat first, train later?" Liam asked, glancing over at Misty.

She was already on her feet and aiming for that Rocky Road.

* * *

The next morning, Liam was sitting in the Center cafeteria, eating a breakfast of eggs and bacon. A flat screen tv played the morning news, at the moment covering a Tailow migration flying by Fuschia City and moving towards the Orange Islands. Across from Liam Misty was enjoying her own breakfast, sausage links and some small pancakes. Duck sat under the table, eating a bowl of pokemon food, Stella next to him drinking a from a bowl of special mineral water. They had been talking about what kind of bag to replace Misty's small knapsack, her only requirement was that it be red, when they had an unexpected visitor.

"Good morning."

Liam and Misty looked over to see Giovanni standing next to their table, polite smile the same as last night.

"Giovanni!" Misty said with surprise. "Good morning!"

"I'm glad I caught you before you left. I was hoping to speak with the both of you."

"Both of us?" Liam asked with a little bit of disbelief.

Giovanni nodded. "Yes. The League has… _requested_ that I prepare a team of pokemon for challengers below the caliber I normally accept. I have recently obtained a new pokemon, delivered from the Rivo region, for that purpose, and I would like to test it out against the both of you."

Liam frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. "I've never heard of the Rivo region. Where is it?"

"In the southern hemisphere, beyond both the Orange Islands and the Alola region. It has many varied climates due to its geography, which has helped produce the pokemon now with me."

Liam glanced at Misty, who nodded at him. "I've heard of it," she said, "but I don't think I've ever met anyone from there. I'm not sure what kind of pokemon they have."

"The one I will be battling you with you will have some knowledge of. I assure you," Giovanni said.

Liam shrugged his shoulders and nodded to Misty. She did the same, and together they looked back up to Giovanni with happy smiles. "Sure!" Misty said. "We'd love to help out. It'll be a lot of fun to battle pokemon from another region."

"Excellent! I'll-"

"Excuse me, Giovanni." Everyone turned to see Nurse Joy, the TV remote in her hand. "I apologize for interrupting, but I thought you all may want to see this." She pointed the remote at the TV and turned up the volume.

A press conference was being aired. A stately room was shown, crowded with reporters and cameramen and other officials. A banner on the bottom of the screen read "Champion Lance to Make Announcement." In the upper right corner of the screen read the word "LIVE."

Lance was just walking up to a podium when the volume was turned up. Behind him stood a shorter man, with a large gray beard, long gray eyebrows, and a larger bush of equally gray hair. They both seemed somewhat serious, the man dressed in business wear and Lance in his official league outfit, but they both had pleasant smiles as cameras flashed on and off.

* * *

" _Hello everyone,_ " Lance said as he settled behind the podium. " _I don't have much time for questions, so my colleague Mr. Goodshow_ ," Lance motioned to the man standing behind him, who nodded his head in greeting, " _will be accepting them after my announcement_.

" _Now, as many of you know the Indigo League Conference just recently completed, and the new season is upon us. In understanding of that, we of the League have chosen to make this announcement at this time._

" _It has recently been decided that, as a test run, the next Indigo Conference will be postponed to three years from now._ "

* * *

"What?" Misty said, the disbelief in her voice almost palpable.

"Oh my!" Nurse Joy exclaimed.

Liam himself was also surprised, his eyebrows shooting up as far as they could go. Postpone the tournament for three years? That wasn't going to go over well. What had gotten them to think that it would be a good idea? And from Misty's surprise, it seemed the League hadn't informed the gym leaders about the decision beforehand. Liam glanced over at Giovanni. He was frowning in confusion. Didn't inform them was right.

Liam looked back to the TV.

* * *

An uproar had started amongst the reporters, but a raised hand from Lance was enough for them to slowly quiet down.

" _I understand_ ," he began once the noise level was back down, " _that this decision is unexpected, but the League hopes to use this time to hold an event of unparalleled size._

" _Not this coming year, but the year after, eighteen tournaments will be held in honor of the eighteen different types of pokemon._ " The reporters in the crowd began to speak with one another in surprise, their rumbling growing steadily louder. Camera flashes regained their pace. Lance spread his hands wide, a large grin on his face. " _Every type will be presented! Fire, Water, Grass! Dragon and Fairy and every other shall have a dedicated tournament! It shall be the Year of Battles!_ "

With that, Lance swept his cape around and left the press conference to the shouted questions of the reporters. Mr. Goodshow stepped forward then, grabbing the mic from the podium.

" _I am Mr. Goodshow, President of the League Competition Committee. I will be taking your questions now._ " Mr. Goodshow pointed to a reporter, who began to ask a question. As she asked, Nurse Joy began to turn the volume of the TV back down.

* * *

"Did they tell either of you about this?" Nurse Joy asked Misty and Giovanni. Both shook their heads in the negative.

"They had mentioned," Giovanni said, "during the gym leader party at the conference that some changes will be coming. However, it was never hinted that it would be something of this magnitude." He was frowning, a stern look centered on Mr. Goodshow on the TV.

"What is the League doing, not even telling us about this ahead of time!" Joy complained.

"Something big must have happened recently for them to do this without talking with you guys first," Liam said, looking over at Misty. She nodded in agreement and shot an irked look at the TV.

"I have no idea what would have, though," Misty said.

"Well," Joy said with a sigh, her fists on her hips, "there's nothing we can do about it right now." She walked away and back towards her desk, her shoulders tight with irritation.

"Nurse Joy is correct in that regard," Giovanni said. Liam could hear a grating annoyance in his voice. "Nevertheless," he looked down to the two of them, "if you two are still interested, please come to my gym after your breakfast is complete for our battle."

"Oh!" Misty exclaimed. "Of course! I almost forgot already!"

"Excellent," Giovanni said, his polite smile back, and nodded to the both of them. "I look forward to seeing you both soon."

Giovanni left then, leaving Liam and Misty to finish their breakfast amidst the League's shocking announcement. They chatted about it for a bit, occasionally Duck pawed at Liam for some scraps–"Okay Duck, but only a little bit. Here's some bacon"–but eventually they had finished, turned their dirty plates and utensils in, and let Nurse Joy know that they may be back for healing in a little while, despite having checked out of their room.

As they left, with Stella returned to her pokeball, Liam glanced back at the TV. The news was still on, but now it was a story about a video of a Shinx trending on the internet. His head spun around the idea of the Year of Battles.

One year from now, eighteen huge and exciting tournaments would begin. He had one year to prepare for them, and no one, especially Liam, knew whether this Year of Battles would happen again… It seemed his plan of traveling at his own speed wasn't going to be as casual as he had hoped. Not if he wanted to place well in those type tournaments.

"You coming?" Misty asked, snapping Liam out of his thoughts.

He turned to her in surprise, and saw that she was holding the door open for him. Liam smiled and walked outside, Misty quickly at his side and Duck by his feet.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Who cared if he had to rush a bit, as long as he had a friend to travel with?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I hope readers have enjoyed this! Feel free to review, and if you have any questions about this story that I should have mentioned in the author's note let me know! I'm going to try to avoid writing long ones since this first chapter was meant to cover most of everything, but life is life.

 **Edit Note:** So apparently the horizontal lines from my Google Doc didn't get carried through into FanFiction (not sure why) so I threw this chapter into the text manager on FanFiction and just used the horizontal line function there. Other than that, I've only made some minor grammar changes (So. Many. Commas).

* * *

 **Pokemon and Their Nicknames**

Liam's pokemon:

 **Duck** = growlithe

Misty's pokemon:

 **Stella** = staryu

* * *

 **Chapter Word Count:** 17,518 **Date Posted:** Friday, January 18, 2019 **Edit Date:** Friday, January 18, 2019


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting Penny

**Chapter Two: Meeting Penny**

Liam and Misty arrived at the Viridian Gym not long after leaving the Pokemon Center. It was still early morning, and so the streets were light on traffic, but just to be safe Liam had recalled Duck to his pokeball. The gym building was an ornate piece of architecture, a golden tan color with white, sun-bleached stone lining. Tall columns lined the front and gave the feeling that the place was inspired by the ancient empires of the western regions.

Since the pokemon gyms were still officially closed for a few more days there were no trainers waiting outside for a chance to battle, and that meant they were able to walk right inside. The front lobby had plain, simple decor and plenty of seating for trainers waiting for a battle. A secretary's desk was placed opposite the front doors, and sitting there was a pretty woman in a simple business suit, her brown hair tied up into a bun.

"Hello," she greeted as they entered, pausing whatever work she was doing with the computer sitting on the desk. "Are you Liam and Misty?" They nodded. "Giovanni told me you two would be coming. You can go right on into the battlefield. Just through those doors." The secretary pointed to a set of double doors just next to her desk.

They thanked her and walked through. Inside was a dimly lit room, large enough that it looked like it took composed most of the building. The walls were set well away from the battlefield and were a tan color similar to the stonework on the outside. There were no bleachers or seating area, as many other gyms had. Instead, opposite the doors they entered was a small personal balcony. A large window lit up the balcony from behind, with deep crimson drapes framing it. Center of the balcony was a regal wingback chair with a small side table. Giovanni sat in that chair, reading what looked like a business report, while a large persian lounged next to him.

At the sound of them entering Giovanni looked up. "Ah! Misty, Liam, a pleasure you've come. Thank you again for obliging my request."

"Sure!" Liam called up. "So how do you want to do this?"

"As I run a ground type gym, I would like to battle a water type first. Misty?"

"Fine with me!" She answered, then took out a pokeball from her bag. She moved to the challenger's position on one end of the field, and Liam moved to stand behind her. "Go, Stella!"

The same staryu from last night appeared, deep brown and brilliant gold in color. Apparently, it was Misty's first pokemon, but because of her responsibilities at the Cerulean Gym she had only been able to train it and never get a lot of battle experience. Liam and Misty had talked a decent amount about the kind of pokemon they had. Liam, of course, only had his growlithe Duck while Misty only had her staryu Stella.

"Wonderful," Giovanni commented, rubbing a heavy ball in his hand with his thumb. "Deep colors and great size. You've raised it well."

"Thanks!" Misty said, "Now are we going to battle or what?"

Giovanni smirked. "Indeed."

Then Giovanni threw the ball, and from it came an earthshaking crash. An onix had appeared, and it released a battle roar as it slammed onto the ground. It was big, as all onix are, roughly thirty feet long. It was also blue.

Not _blue_ blue, but a light blue, as if made of ice. An idea that seemed better and better when Onix opened its mouth and the small snowflakes of frost fluttered on its breath. It glimmered in the sunlight coming in from the window with a luster equal to precious stones or crystal.

"I've never seen an onix like _that_!" Misty exclaimed, gaping at the behemoth. Stella was doing the same, though it didn't have a mouth to gape with.

Liam quickly brought his phone out and began to scan the onix with the pokedex app installed.

 _Onix, Rivo form. The Rock Snake pokemon. An ice and ground type. Onix devour ice, snow, and frozen dirt to repair their bodies after taking damage. Travelers will use the tunnels Onix make while eating to stay safe during snow storms._

"Huh," Liam muttered as he read through the information a second time. Interesting.

"He is quite taking, isn't he?" Giovanni said, smirking. "This drastic difference in appearance, resulting from the environment the pokemon's ancestors have lived in for generations, is called regional variance. More than his typing, however, Onix also has an interesting ability that I would like to try out with the both of you. But enough of that, let the battle begin!"

Onix roared in preparation, glaring down on Stella from well up in the air.

"I'll take the first move if you don't mind!" Misty declared, the fires of determination forming in her eyes. "Stella, use Water Pulse!"

Stella cried in confirmation then flexed. From the tip of its top leg Stella blasted a ball of glowing water at Onix. Giovanni said nothing and only watched with a confident smile as the water blasted into him, standing strong and taking the attack. Any normal Onix would have taken a decent amount of damage from that attack. This one didn't even blink.

"He should still take some damage if he's a ground type!" Misty couldn't understand it, and neither could Liam. There weren't many other dual ice and ground types that he knew of, Swinub and its evolutions were it, but even they took extra damage from water attacks.

"Onix's ability," Giovanni explained, "is unique to the Rivo region. It is called Ice Body, and halves the damage received from water attacks, but doubles the damage from fire attacks."

Misty growled in frustration. "Fine then! Stella, use Rapid Spin!"

Stella jumped into the air then began to spin, well, rapidly. It was a basic attack, but Liam knew that in the hands of pokemon like staryu and starmie it became something even more. The high speed gave it momentum to which it could glide through the air with, and by adjusting the angle and bend of it's different legs Stella could gain a certain amount of control on where it was going.

Stella, with its high rotation, smacked into Onix's face and rebounded away before he could react. Flying around the room at a great speed, Stella chipped away at Onix's defenses. Or tried to. Despite the changed typing, Onix still had an amazing innate defense.

Giovanni gave his first order. "Onix, use Hail."

Onix roared in response, his head held high as wintry storm clouds began to form above them inside the gym. Gray in color, they were lighter than the storm clouds from yesterday. A few moments later and large pieces of hail began to fall down on all of them. Onix, as an ice type, was completely unaffected, while Stella was beginning to be buffeted by the weather.

"Stella!" Misty called over the loud clunking of the hail falling onto the ground. "Stop your attack!"

Stella smacked Onix one last time on the edge of the nose, causing him to roar at Stella in irritation, before spinning back to Misty's side of the field. Still, Giovanni made no motion to command Onix.

"Alright Stella, I want you to use Confusion. But don't use it on Onix, use it on the hail!"

Giovanni raised an eyebrow in question, but sat back in his chair and watched with interest. The persian next to him watched out of the corner of its eyes with a sharp interest, however. Liam didn't really know what Misty was planning either, but it was an interesting move, he'd give her that.

Just like the night before, Stella brandished her arms, pointing them at the hail clouds above. To Liam's awe, the clouds and the hail, both on the ground and in the air around them, immediately stopped. The hailstones hung in the air, refracting the light from the window and the faint blue of Stella's psychic attack. Suspended as it all was, the scene was beautiful. Almost peaceful. Liam quickly snapped a photo with his phone.

"Now make a cyclone with them around Onix!"

And then the storm returned. The hailstones, directed by Stella, began to fly and whirl towards and around Onix, who could only look on in stricken dumbfoundment. Quickly the hailstones began to grow in speed, moving faster and faster until it was a veritable vortex swirling around Onix, a cylinder of flying ice and sharp wind reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

"Haha!" Misty laughed. "Onix might be immune to hail, but now its strength will be chipped away by the very thing it brought about!"

"Clever, and an impressive amount of psychic power for only a Confusion attack," Giovanni commended. "You're staryu has great potential. However, what will you do next? Onix, use Ice Ball!"

Misty looked to the vortex with surprise, unsure what to expect. Liam wasn't too sure either. Ice Ball was a physical ice type move. Would it be strong enough to break through that whirlwind?

Apparently not, as the sound of a large force connecting with the hail tornado could be heard, muffled by the whistling winds.

"Again!" Giovanni ordered.

Misty and Liam watched as, again, no visible change happened, but that same sound returned. Was it his imagination, or was it louder this time?

"Yes!" Misty cried, pumping her fist in the air. "Sorry Giovanni, but your attack isn't strong enough to break out of my combo attack!"

Giovanni leaned forward in his chair, but his confident smirk remained. "Are you so sure? Once more!"

Misty and Liam both looked at him with confusion, then back to the cyclone. That sound came again, stronger now, and accompanied by a visible shaking in the uniform structure of Stella's attack.

"What's going on!" Liam called out, his first time speaking since the battle began.

"Ice Ball," Giovanni began, "is an attack that grows stronger if used repeatedly. Onix has attacked with it three times. How do you think your attack will fair at number five? Again, Onix!"

"Stella!" Misty cried, her hands frantically waving in the air. "Pick up the speed! Try to get Onix to faint before he can break free!"

Stella cried in understanding, and the blue glow of the vortex increased in intensity, the psychic aura outlining Stella matching it. Liam and Misty watched with bated breath, then _BOOM!_ A giant white orb, a ball of ice, blasted through the vortex, barely missing Stella as it flew across the room. There was a gap in the storm now where the ball launched through, the psychic energy having been pushed aside by the sheer force of the attack. Through it Onix leered at them, eyeing Stella as if daring it to close the hole.

Stella did. The shine of psychic power increased once more as Stella coalesced the storm together to cover for that weak spot. Onix roared from the inside, the sound merging with the howl of the winds as Stella put all of her psychic powers into keeping the vortex stable and at top speed.

"Last time!" Giovanni hollered, barely heard over the whipping winds.

A few moments passed, and Liam wasn't sure if Onix had heard Giovanni or not. But then another glowing orb of ice, even bigger than the last one, shot out of the storm with such speed that Liam almost blinked and missed it slam into Starmie at full force. It was when the hole in the storm had opened, Liam realized, that Onix memorized where Stella had been standing.

Then the storm broke apart, the hail falling to the floor and the storm clouds above dispersing. Onix stood there, as much as a giant ice snake could "stand," a little chipped around the edges but good to go. Liam looked to Stella, and saw that though it had been pushed back, it remained in the game. It's red gem flashed, signaling that it was low on power but still in the game, and Liam was surprised it was hanging in there. Staryu weren't exactly known for their defenses but, Liam figured, Misty had raised her's enough to be a fighter like her. That and ice attacks weren't that effective against water types. He preferred the former explanation.

"Quick, Recover!" Misty ordered. Stella didn't respond like it normally would, and instead simply began to glow an incandescent golden color.

"Finish it with Bind," Giovanni ordered, sitting back into his chair and petting his persian.

Onix roared as it leaped forward. Before Stella could complete its recovery Onix had wrapped his tail around it. Stella cried out, and the golden glow faded away as the move was interrupted.

Misty clenched her fists and grit her teeth, but then sighed and let her shoulders fall. "I forfeit."

Giovanni smirked with his victory but ordered Onix to release Stella. As it did, Misty returned Stella, whispering a compliment and wishing for a good rest. Onix returned to Giovanni's side of the field.

"That was well fought, Misty," Giovanni called down to them. "Using our Hail attack as you did was inventive, though I wish you had used more water attacks so I could know how Onix truly did against them."

Misty shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do to win, right?"

Giovanni chuckled. "Indeed. Liam," he turned to face Liam, a battle-ready look in his eyes, "are you prepared to face Onix now?"

Liam nodded and swallowed his nerves. His first, actual pokemon battle. Did the one against Team Rocket count? Maybe, if he counted it as a double battle with him and Misty teaming up. But then, there had been no real exchange of attacks and strategies. Duck had simply Roar-ed them away. So yeah, this was his first battle. To Liam, anyway.

Liam didn't feel entirely ready, but he got to see Onix in action, and already knew that Duck's fire type attacks would be extra effective. Although Giovanni, no doubt, had already made plans on how to deal with Onix's glaring fire type weakness.

But these second thoughts wouldn't help him, now would they?

Liam switched places with Misty, took a deep breath, then called Duck out. Liam didn't know how aware Duck was of the outside world while inside his pokeball, but when he appeared Duck was ready to go, his stance steady and his eyes determined to win.

"You may have the first move, Liam," Giovanni said, waving his arm towards them.

Liam nodded. First, test the waters.

"Duck, use Heat Wave! Max distance!"

Duck barked in response then began to run forward. Onix watched him wearily, aware of Duck's fire abilities and his own weakness to them. Duck's attack range with Heat Wave wasn't much, but against this Onix they didn't need much. The furthest Duck could hit an enemy and hope for a burn was about ten feet. At closer range the attack could do real damage, but ten feet was nothing against an Onix that was thirty feet long. It was essentially close combat by that point.

Maybe he should have had Duck use Flare Blitz instead.

Liam didn't have time to second guess, as the tendrils of fire breath washed over Onix. Against other opponents, it would have just caused a significant discomfort. Here, it did more. Onix reared up in pain, roaring as the boulders of ice that composed majority of its body began to steam, droplets of water melting away.

"Mud Bomb," Giovanni commanded, and Liam's eyes widened.

"Dodge it!" Was the best he could say, and then Onix glared down at Duck before thrashing his tail and spitting up a glob of mud almost as large as Duck.

Duck ran to the side, moving with a fast speed that was uncommon for growlithe as a species, and jumped as the mud came crashing down next to him. Some of the splatter hit, the force behind the attack causing Duck to release a short howl of pain, but then he landed. His one side was brown with mud, but Duck was ready for more.

"Again. Full speed," Giovanni ordered, and Onix released another ball of sludgy mud.

This attack flew at Duck faster than the last one, and Liam wasn't sure he could dodge in time. The ball was coming closer, and Duck wasn't moving because he was waiting for Liam to make an order and-

"Heat Wave!" Liam called before he could even think of a reason why to use it.

Duck followed orders and attacked. The ball of mud was close by the time Duck released his breath, but that only meant it took the greater force of the attack. Mud Bomb's momentum ground down under the blast, and the heat quickly dried the mud, making it nothing more than a big clump of dirt. For a split second Liam thought they had come up with a counter strategy against the attack, but then that dirt clump continued on. What it lacked in speed it now made up for in density. The dirt smacked Duck right in the face, causing him to yelp with pain and tumble backward.

"Once more. Full speed," Giovanni said, giving no pause to Duck's tumble.

Onix spat another Mud Bomb with a roar. Liam cried out Duck's name, telling him to watch out, but Duck was still getting back on his feet from the last attack. The Mud Bomb hit straight on, and with loud cry, Duck took the full brunt. The force pushed Duck to the back of the field. Liam ran over to him and saw that he had fainted in the middle of a muddy mess.

Liam sighed. "It's my loss," he called out.

He took out Duck's pokeball and pointed it at him. "You were great, buddy. Take a good rest." Liam returned Duck after that, then stood and shared a commiserating smile with Misty.

"You tried," Giovanni called down to them. "It was obvious that your growlithe was not at a strong enough level to fight Onix."

Liam sighed again and bowed his head. Shoulders slumped, he took a breath then looked up at Giovanni.

"You're right. I didn't know how we stacked up to you. I tried to be cautious about it, but, obviously, that didn't work." Liam looked down at Duck's ball, picturing him injured and dirtied.

"And that was the right decision." Liam's head shot up to stare at Giovanni. "You gauged your enemy by using a ranged attack, Heat Wave. That was the correct decision. Where you made your mistake was in continuing your caution."

Liam frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't understand."

"It's like this," Misty began walking over to stand next to Liam, "a trainer needs to be adaptable and change strategies when the situation says so. You saw how Onix reacted when you first hit it with Heat Wave. If you had gotten in closer and used it again, or used Flare Blitz, then Onix probably would have taken too much damage to continue fighting. If it could, then you were in a situation where another attack would have won you the match."

Giovanni nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed. By ordering your growlithe to dodge, you gave up your advantage: the close proximity needed for your fire attacks to succeed."

Liam slowly nodded his head. "I think understand. Thank you for the advice. Both of you."

"Of course. And thanks from me for battling my newest pokemon. Now, I have some work to attend to. Have a safe journey, and I look forward to a future challenge from you, Liam. Misty, I will see you again at the next Leader Tournament."

"It was nice to meet you," Liam said in parting. Misty said her own goodbye, and soon the two were on their way back to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

It was the late morning by the time that Liam and Misty were on their way out of Viridian City. Misty had a new bag, a large camping backpack, bright red, that they were currently keeping their food and medicine in. Liam's bag just didn't have the space with his tent set taking up so much room. Hopefully, they wouldn't have a need for medicine for a while. Duck and Stella were fully healed following this morning's battles. Stella was in her pokeball, so as to avoid drying out in the sun, while Duck was walking next to Liam. Having him out would, hopefully, be helpful while navigating Viridian Forest.

Haven to the majority of Kanto's bug pokemon, the Viridian Forest was essentially one giant hive. Bug catchers, that is, those who specialized in bug types for one reason or another, were the trainers who mostly populated the forest paths, though occasionally there would be other trainers passing through like Liam and Misty. Viridian Forest's trees were stories tall, thicker than a grown adult, and brought a relaxing shade to the forest floor. The limited light, blocked by the canopy, meant not much grew on the forest floor beyond grass and the occasional hardy bush. It was due to that lack of light that grass pokemon were rare here. They needed the light to survive and photosynthesize, and so they congregated in a few clearings scattered around. Bird pokemon could be found in the area since they fed on the neverending amounts of caterpie and weedle–the two most common pokemon in the forest–but they were often run off by swarms of more powerful bugs. The occasional poison pokemon could be found here, the ones that appeared were the ones that ate the occasional bush since they didn't have anything to fear from bugs bothering them.

It was no surprise, with all of this in mind, that Viridian Forest was a den of creepy crawlies and those that liked them. Everyone from this side of Kanto knew that those full trainers who entered would be challenged bug catcher after bug catcher.

It was great, easy training for Liam and Duck. As a growlithe, Duck would have an easy time defeating near whatever bug came their way.

At the entrance to the forest, where there was a sharp decline in tree height and forest density, Liam was first challenged to a battle. It was a little girl, maybe eight years old and too young to leave and travel the region on her own. Many such young trainers, from Viridian and Pewter, would come to the edges of the forest to catch pokemon and train them at home, or battle full, licensed trainers like Liam and Misty for experience.

Fresh off their defeat to Giovanni, Liam and Duck agreed.

"Go! Caterpie!" The girl called, tossing a pokeball.

Caterpie was little more than a green worm with big eyes and a small red horn on his head. That horn wasn't even sharp, as a weedle's was, but instead branched apart and ended in two rounded nubs. As a species, caterpie was the weakest pokemon in Kanto.

Just about to call Duck forward to battle, Liam felt someone slam into his back and clutch his shoulders, their nails digging into him as he was nearly toppled over. He was able to keep his footing, but now that person was practically lying on top of him and completely off the ground.

"No!" Misty screamed. "That thing is disgusting! Get it away! Get! It! AWAY!"

Liam flinched as her voice screeched right into his ear, but her vice grip was too strong to get away.

"Misty!" Liam yelled, "What's your problem? You're going to-"

"I! HATE! BUGS!" Her nails dug in even sharper, and Liam winced in pain. Duck began to growl at her, but Liam shot him a quick, pleading look telling him to stay back.

"Misty," Liam tried again, voice calmer now as he tried to pry her fingers loose, "could you please let go? You're hurting me."

"It's so gross!"

Liam, if he wasn't tight from the pain in his shoulders and hunched over from supporting Misty's weight, would have sighed. Nevertheless, he had a battle to fight. Liam looked over at the little girl.

To say she was a bit peeved would be an understatement. The girl's arms were crossed, her foot was tapping the ground, and she was glaring daggers straight at Misty.

"Caterpie!" Caterpie, who had been sulking more and more through Misty's tirade, perked up. "String Shot that girl! Try to hit her mouth!"

Liam looked down in surprise as caterpie began to follow that order. By Misty's incessant screaming she hadn't noticed.

"No! Please," Liam said, looking at the girl with begging eyes. "I'm sorry for my friend. She doesn't mean anything by it. She's just a lit-"

Liam hadn't been able to finish. Caterpie shot its String Shot, a thick thread of tough silk spewing from its mouth. This caterpie, Liam learned, didn't have the best accuracy. He was hit, square in the face, with a sticky, webby mess.

Even that didn't drag Misty out of her hysterics, not that Liam was paying too much attention by that point. No, he was ripping the sticky thread away or trying while balancing Misty on top of himself, gagging at the taste as he pulled some from his mouth. As Liam coughed and gasped Duck turned to the caterpie and growled, hackles raised. Before Liam knew what was happening, Duck had his jaws around caterpie's side. With an angry flail of his head Duck threw the caterpie, down and out from that overkill attack, at the little girl's feet.

Liam had only been able to look up as the girl gasped, quickly recalling her pokemon.

"Hey!" She yelled, her face now red and her eyes alight with anger. "Why'd you do that? Caterpie hitting you was just an accident!"

Liam's patience was, remarkably, still existent. How it was he didn't know, but that didn't mean it wasn't painfully beginning to dwindle.

"You shouldn't be having your pokemon attack people," he tried to explain, a tired edge to his voice. "You should be using your words first."

It was, of course, curse her, at that time that Misty realized caterpie was gone. She released his shoulders, hopped his back and said, curse her again, "Oh thank GOD that disgusting thing is gone." She shivered, clasping her arms around her shoulders. "Bugs are the absolute worst."

The little girl, if she could be any more furious, was. She tossed another pokeball, and in his head Liam cursed Misty a third time.

The pokemon that appeared was a kakuna. The evolved form of weedle, kakuna were yellow chrysalis creatures with sharp black eyes, that would eventually evolve into weedle's fully evolved form beedrill. As it was, kakuna were very limited in what they were capable of doing. The more energy they expended the longer they would be stuck in this form before evolving once more. As it was, the only defensive tactic they had in the wild was to harden the outer shell of their bodies. Trained, they could retain the moves known as weedle.

Misty was cowering behind Liam, thankfully not _on top_ of him, before the pokemon had even fully materialized from its pokeball.

"Kakuna!" The girl commanded, "Use String Shot! Aim for that girl's face!"

Kakuna was trained enough to use String Shot, so that meant it could use Poison Sting, the other move weedle knew prior to evolving. At least, Liam told himself, the girl chose the less violent of the two options. Still, this kakuna's accuracy was even worse than the caterpie's. Liam still got hit in the face, and before he could stop the attack Duck was already unleashing a Heat Wave.

Kakuna was collapsed, almost extra toasty when Liam was able to breathe again.

"Duck!" He yelled. Growlithe, as a species, were very loyal and protective of their trainers. It was only expected that Duck would, after taking out Kakuna, direct his attention on the trainer that had attacked his owner twice. "Stop!" Liam yelled again. Duck, hackles raised and dangerously close to the little girl, growled once before walking back to Liam.

The girl had stood, frozen in place, as Duck neared, but breathed a sigh of relief when Liam called him back. Nevertheless, her angry grimace was back up just after and she glared at Liam.

"Maybe if you cut your hair you pokemon wouldn't think you're a girl!" Then the girl was stomping away back in the direction of Viridian City.

Liam looked down at his hair, straight and brown and long enough to fall past his shoulders and onto his chest. He had been teased about it when first coming to Kanto, but to hear it from an eight-year-old was something else. Wait… she hadn't paid him his earnings!

Liam sighed. Nothing he could do about it now. He turned to Misty, who looked thankful that the girl was gone but was now staring into the Viridian Forest with trepidation. Liam sighed again, adjusted his messenger bag, and looked down at Duck, who was sitting next to his feet and looking back at the retreating form of the little girl.

Liam looked into the forest with dread. "I'm going to regret this."

Without another word he walked forwards. Duck quickly turned to follow beside him and Misty hesitantly brought up the rear

* * *

The entire game started all over again. For five hours Liam would be challenged by waiting bug catchers camping out just beyond the wide forest path. Each time the routine with the little girl repeated. Eventually Liam had just told Duck that he might as well practice his Heat Wave and so that had become the preferred method of retribution. At least he was making sure to collect his prize money. Now if only he could get Misty to stop overreacting.

Honestly, Liam didn't understand how Misty had the energy to be this terrified for this long. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Or maybe it was the irrational part of irrational fears. Either way, Liam had quickly found it to be incredibly aggravating. She was straight up insulting every trainer and their pokemon that Liam was battling, and then he would take the fall for it by being String Shot-ed in the face.

He was pretty sure he could taste the difference in caterpie versus weedle silk now. His next benchmark–and wasn't that sad?–was seeing if he could taste a difference with evolved pokemon.

That was how his day was progressing.

When deciding to camp, they had found a small clearing just off the main path large enough for their purposes. Five minutes, they had been there for only five minutes, enough time for Liam to rest his sore feet and begin to enjoy the ambient sounds of the forest while he unpacked the tent when Misty did it. Again.

"Get it away! Liam! Get it AWAY!"

It was a caterpie, average size, average coloring. Completely average. Unbecoming and simply watching them with confusion as it ate a leaf about as big as it was. It was also sitting on a branch twenty feet above the clearing they had chosen.

He couldn't take this anymore.

"Enough!" Liam yelled, so loud that the caterpie was scared away and Misty shut her mouth. Liam leveled her with a glare. "For hours, _hours_ , I have had to listen to you screeching your head off. _And I can't take anymore._ "

Misty huffed, puffed her chest up and set her fists on her hips. Liam was too irritated to be the least bit intimidated. "Well I'm sorry," Misty began, leaning over and matching Liam's glare with her own. "I'm sorry that I'm scared of bugs, and we just so happen to be in the world's biggest hive! I've always been scared of bugs, and probably always will! It's called an irrational fear, and I'm sorry that I can't control it because it's irrational! I'm! Sorry!"

Liam scoffed. "Trying to take the high road by apologizing, I see. Well here's a news flash, Misty. Even if it's an irrational fear, you obviously still knew about it. So why didn't you tell me about it _before_ we came in here? Huh? We could've gone a different route. Taken a ferry to Celadon, or Vermillion, or anywhere! But you agreed–that's right, _you_ –that we should come through here for Pewter City. So unless you're sorry that you _fucking lied to me_ , I don't give a shit."

The amount of venom that had built up into Liam's voice rivaled the rage that Misty had after Ash destroyed her bike. And now that this level of fury was directed at her, she found herself taken aback. Ever the stubborn one, however, Misty huffed, crossed her arms across her chest, and turned her back to him.

Liam let out an angry breath but didn't say anything more. He looked at the different parts of the tent, scattered around him. He was too irritated to deal with that right now. Duck pawed at his legs, a soft whine in his throat. Liam began to run his fingers through the crest of tan fur on the top of Duck's head, but decided to begin training–sprints to work with Duck's good speed–to take his mind off of this nonsense.

Time passed, the sky darkened, and eventually, Liam crawled into his sleeping bag, his messenger bag acting as a pillow and the tent still not set up. Neither Misty nor Liam had spoken to each other, and they probably wouldn't start until well into tomorrow.

Duck laid on Liam's stomach, relaxing as Liam watched the canopy so high above them be lost in the growing darkness. A cool, relaxing night wind was brushing through the forest, causing Liam's long hair to flutter around a little. Liam breathed in and enjoyed the ambiance. It was a far cry from Lumiose City, but it was… nice, in its own ways. It had been pleasant to be in a busy metropolis, even if Viridian City didn't come close to Lumiose's size, but Liam was finding that the quiet forest had its own perks too. He didn't enjoy sleeping on the ground, though.

It was in the moonlight peeking through the canopy that Liam saw it. Hopping from one high branch to another, a fiercely determined look on its face, was a caterpie. It looked to be normal in size, but Liam couldn't tell what its coloring was like in the darkness. Everytime a caterpie molted its green coloring would become a little deeper, a little darker. That would continue until the caterpie finally evolved, and so the darker a caterpie's color the closer it was to evolution.

That didn't really matter here, though. Not when this caterpie was jumping distances and moving with speed it had no right being able to do.

"Hey, buddy, wake up," Liam whispered, nudging Duck's sleeping body. Duck's ears perked up, and he sleepily blinked his eyes open and yawned. With heavy eyes he looked at Liam and Liam pointed at the caterpie. "Look at that! It's moving around like crazy. It's jumping so far-woah! Did you see that? That was like thirty feet! I think we should catch it, don't you?"

Duck woofed in quiet agreement. Duck quickly hopped off Liam, and stood at the ready, no sleepy look left in his eyes. Liam slid himself up so that he quickly slipped out of his sleeping bag, and then he was up and ready. He turned around to grab an empty pokeball from his bag but paused. He spotted Misty, with her bag zipped up all the way so that he couldn't even see her face. She wouldn't appreciate him catching a bug pokemon, not one bit.

But then Liam's anger from earlier came back. He snagged a ball from his bag, turned around, and prepared to order Duck to attack.

But he couldn't do it. His heart got the better of him.

Instead, Liam crouched down next to Duck. "We'll just let it go, okay bud?" Duck looked at him in confusion, his head cocked to the side. Liam nodded his head towards Misty. "She doesn't like bug pokemon, remember? We'll just catch something else here in the forest, alright?"

Duck's ears drooped, but he nodded in understanding. Liam returned to his sleeping bag, Duck curled up on top of him, and he tried to fight the disappointment in his chest.

* * *

The next morning Liam, Misty, and Duck were walking further into the Viridian Forest after a quick breakfast and morning routine. It had only been an hour, but already they had been challenged twice to a battle. It was amazing how many bug catchers challenged a person openly walking with a growlithe, but apparently, it was a point of pride in the forest for the catchers to defeat pokemon their own bugs were weak to. Liam could kinda get that, but both times Liam had offered the challenge to Misty as a sort of olive branch. She turned his offers down, though. Liam had won both battles easily–Duck wrecked house, bug pride or no pride–but Liam hadn't been able to focus on them.

He had expected Misty to be hanging onto her anger from yesterday, but instead, she had just been quiet. At first, Liam had thought it was the silent treatment, but the look on her face wasn't angry or upset. He wasn't quite sure what it was. Sullen? Close, but not quite. Thoughtful? Better, but still not right on the mark. Honestly, Liam was at a loss, and so he decided he'd just play nice.

Misty still cringed at the sight of the bug pokemon, and let out an initial screech upon their appearance, but there had been no continued screaming. Maybe she was trying to play nice by reigning herself in? Or maybe she was just starting to get used to the bugs. He hoped so, so hard that it was the latter. It normally took two weeks to pass through Viridian Forest, but if Misty stopped and screamed at every bug they came across it would take three times that.

As it was, no one had challenged Liam for the past twenty minutes and no bug pokemon had crossed their path in the last ten so for the moment they were moving at a normal pace.

"Hey, Liam?"

Liam looked back to see Misty had stopped walking and stood in the middle of the road. Liam stopped too and shot her a curious look.

"Yeah?"

"You… you know that, if you found a bug pokemon that you liked, you could catch it, right? I know that _I_ don't like them, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to catch the pokemon that interest _you_." Misty wasn't looking him in the eye, instead staring at her hands clenched together.

Liam paused and blinked at her in surprise. "You were awake last night?"

Misty nodded her head. "Yeah. I wasn't sure what you were talking about at first, but I could connect the dots when you told Duck why you weren't catching whatever pokemon it was that you saw. It was… it was sweet of you, and I felt bad for how I've been acting. I know I've been hard to deal with, but I–I just can't help it!"

Misty looked to be on the verge of tears, her shoulders starting to shake. Liam walked over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Nah, it's okay. It's like you said yesterday, irrational fears are irrational. So who needs a caterpie? It's not like their strong or very interesting. And they certainly don't have anything in the cute department. I mean really, if I caught a caterpie it would just be jealous of Duck, like, _all_ the time. See?"

Misty laughed and opened her eyes to see Duck sitting at her feet, tail wagging and tongue sticking out the front of his mouth. Liam leaned down to look Misty in the eye. "So it's all okay, okay?"

Misty nodded her head, then brought her hands up to the rub the tears away. She stepped aside and turned so that her back was to Liam, then took a deep breath. A moment later she released it and turned back to him with a bright smile and only slightly red eyes. She shook her head. "No! It's not okay! I'm Misty! Future water pokemon master! And what kind of master would I be if I let some silly bugs scare me away!

"No! It's time I got over this and conquered my fears!" Misty raised her fist high into the sky, positively shining with newfound confidence.

And then she slouched over in embarrassment. "I just have no idea how to do that."

Liam snorted in amusement but shrugged his shoulders all the same. He didn't really know where to start either.

"Maybe you just need to meet the right bug pokemon!" Someone said, voice chipper and happy.

Liam, Misty, and Duck all looked around but saw no one nearby. Suddenly, an older girl, a few years past Liam, popped up from behind a bush still in her sleeping bag. A small tree, not dissimilar to the air fresheners used in cars, was attached to the zipper, which was far enough up that only the girl's face was visible from inside her bag.

"Sorry for eavesdropping," she said, chuckling. "I couldn't help but overhear your predicament since I was, y'know, laying here."

Liam looked down at Duck with a frown. "How did you not smell her there?"

Duck whined in confusion, but the girl hopped around the bush and into the path, answering all the while. "Oh, that was this tree thing! On my zipper? It covers my scent so that wild pokemon don't notice me as easily!"

"Huh," Misty said, "I didn't know they made things like that."

"They're super useful! Anyways," the girl continued, reaching out of her sleeping bag and undoing the zipper. She stuck her head out, revealing frizzy, unkempt hair kept back in a large messy bun. "About your bug problem. You may just need to meet the right bug! Do you have any specific problems with them?"

Misty shivered as she thought about that question. "Everything! I have problems with everything! They're so creepy! The way they cling to things? Uggh!" A more violent shiver racked through Misty's body.

"Okay then," the girl said, fully stepping out from her bag now.

Liam took a moment to notice that her clothes were well worn and wrinkled, the mark of an experienced trainer. Her t-shirt, showing a stylized design of a slurpuff that Liam recognized as having been popular in Lumiose a few years ago, was too big for her and beginning to wear. Blue jean shorts, rolled up her thigh a bit, were faded and torn in places. Her sneakers, a simple black and white, looked well broken in but not as much as the rest of her clothes. They had been replaced not too long ago.

The girl continued to speak during Liam's inspection. "So I'm thinking you should meet some bug pokemon that are cute or pretty and stuff like that! That'll be a good step. Probably."

Then the girl put on a pair of glasses, so large that they took up half her face, and Liam immediately recognized her. She looked up at them and, probably because she couldn't actually see them that well without her glasses, recognized them too.

"Oh hey!" She exclaimed, "You're that bike girl from the Pokemon Center!"

Misty immediately blushed a deep red and looked away. "Please don't remind me of that."

The girl laughed. "Oh? Sure, if that's what you want. Anyways, my name's Penny! Nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Liam, and this is Misty. And this is my buddy Duck." Liam reached down and scratched behind Duck's ears, causing him to bark with happiness and lean into Liam's touch.

"Aw! Aren't you a cutie? You were right Liam, a caterpie has nothing on this little guy!" Penny reached down to pet Duck as well, but as soon as she got close he reached up and licked her hand. Penny laughed even more.

"Anyway," Penny said once she stopped laughing, "I think I have a bug pokemon that can help! Do you mind if I bring him out?"

"Um, sure, if you think so," Misty said, though she took a wary step closer to Liam.

"Right! Say hello to my boy Beautifly!" Penny tossed a pokeball up into the air, and immediately Liam perked up. That would be a great first bug for Misty!

The ball opened, releasing Penny's beautifly from within, but when it became fully revealed Liam had to blink twice to make sure of what he was actually seeing. It resembled a Beautifly, in certain regards, but it was very different, too.

Beautifly's wings, while normally a mixture of black, yellow, red, and blue, were a single, luminescent green. They were slightly larger: the upper set, which was normally a round curve, extended up a bit to have two rounded points; the lower set of wings were even more different, with the long, extended appendage that normal beautifly had there having been enlarged and lengthened so that they curled down far below Beautifly's main body. Put simply, Beautifly's wings were as beautiful as could be, and Liam would bet all the money he had that they were almost magical in the moonlight.

The only other difference was a ring of white fur or hair running around where Beautifly's head met his main body. The fur, almost like a collar, added an air of elegance to Beautifly that hadn't been remiss in the regular species but still added to his current appeal.

"Wow!" Misty said, nearly breathing it out. "He's amazing…"

Her eyes were wide with awe, not that Liam's weren't too. Liam took out his phone and scanned him with the pokedex app.

 _Beautifly, Rivo form. The Butterfly Pokemon. A bug and fairy type. The fur along Beautifly's neck grows longer and shorter depending on the temperature of the environment it lives in. People traveling at night sometimes mistake Beautifly's wings as those from mythical creatures of legend._

Tentatively Misty held up a hand, but paused and looked Beautifly in the eye. "It is alright if I touch your wing?" She asked, almost with the shyness of a little girl. Beautifly nodded and fluttered over to land on her hand. Misty didn't flinch or shy away and instead raised her other hand to carefully brush the wing.

Liam turned to Penny with a curious look. "This is a regional variant, right?"

Penny nodded. "Mmhm! From the Rivo Region! I'm from there too, but I'm just a normal Rivonian! No regional variations in me!"

"Rivo again, huh? You know, Giovanni at the Viridian Gym just got a Rivo onix."

"Oh yeah! I delivered it to him. Apparently, he requested one from the League here for some reason or another, and since I knew where to catch the really good ones I was asked to find one and bring it up here for him!"

Liam looked at her in surprise. "You came all the way to Kanto just to deliver a pokemon?"

Penny dismissively waved her hand in the air. "It's fine. I was thinking about visiting and this was the perfect chance to fly over for free!"

Liam chuckled. "Yeah, I can understand that."

"Penny," Misty began, still smiling at Beautifly, which had now taken to fluttering around in the air, "if he's a regional variant, then he must have a typing that's different from normal, right?"

Penny nodded happily. "Oh yeah, definitely. Most beautifly are bug and flying types, but down in Rivo they're bug and fairy!"

"With wings like those?" Liam joked, "I feel like I should be looking for fairy dust or something."

Misty and Penny laughed, but then Penny held out her arm and Beautifly landed with an easy grace. "You're not completely wrong about that, actually. Rivo beautifly are light enough that you can easily hold them up on your hand thanks to a special powder that they store in their wings. Regular beautifly, on the other hand, weigh sixty some pounds! "

"I think my hand would fall off I tried to do that…" Misty joked.

"I never knew there could be so many differences between pokemon just because of what part of the world they're from," Liam said, glancing down at Duck with consideration.

"Yep! Well, enough of that! How do you feel, Misty?"

"Good! I think you were right, Penny! As long as it's a bug that's cute or pretty I don't think I'll have a problem!" Misty seemed a little proud of herself, and Liam smiled. Hopefully, they could get her to, at the very least, tolerate the other not-so-pretty bugs by the time they left the forest. That was all he needed, tolerance. Or quiet dislike. He could work with quiet dislike.

"So now," Penny said, crossing her arms and looking out into the forest around her, "we just need to figure out which bugs around here are the kind that you're okay with, and work from there."

Liam brought his phone out. Opening up a map of the Kanto region, he tapped on the Viridian Forest. The data shown revealed what pokemon were typically found in the area, as well as rare ones spotted recently.

"Let's see," Liam began as he read down the list, scrolling with his thumb. "For bug pokemon, we have caterpie-"

"Nope!" Misty interjected.

"Metapod-" Liam continued on, unperturbed.

"Definitely not!"

"Butterfree, weedle, kakuna-"

Liam stopped himself this time and glanced over to see Misty with a look of consideration. "Misty?"

"Butterfree could be good. We haven't seen one yet, so I'm not sure, but it's worth a try."

"Great!" Penny exclaimed. "You have your next target! Good luck and good fun! If you have need of me, just holler! Don't know if I'll hear you, but might as well try, am I right?"

Liam and Misty looked at Penny with surprise as she collected her fallen sleeping bag, Beautifly fluttering above her.

"You aren't coming along?" Misty asked.

"Sorry, I'd like to, but I've got an adventure of my own to continue! I'm on the cusp of a major breakthrough!"

"Really?" Liam asked, "What kind?"

Penny suddenly adopted a paranoid pose, swiftly looking left and right, back and around, before motioning Liam and Misty close. Curious, they did, and Penny whispered into their ears.

"I'm looking for the Misty Woods, and I think Beautifly is my way to finding it!"

"The Misty Woods?" Liam asked at normal volume.

"Ssh! Not so loud! I don't want someone overhearing!"

"Whose listening? There's no one here."

Penny leveled him a flat look. "Just like there was no one here when you and Misty were talking earlier?"

"Fair point. Continue."

Penny sniffed and glanced at Liam before looking them both in the eye. "The Misty Woods is a legendary place here in the Viridian Forest, said to be home to all sorts of rare pokemon. Most think they're stronger, more powerful versions of the pokemon that already live here, but I have a different idea. I think a bunch of fairy pokemon live there."

"Why's that?" It was Misty who asked this time.

"It's just a hunch, but all sorts of other famous explorers and trainers have tried to find the place using bug and grass pokemon, but no one's thought to try a fairy type before! And, if I'm wrong and the other's are right, then it's okay since Beautifly is a bug pokemon too! And, if neither of those are right, I've even got a grass pokemon for backup!"

"There's a logic there that I can argue with," Liam said, though he was smiling anyways. "Mind if we join you on this mystery adventure?"

Penny looked them both square in the eye for a moment, but slowly she nodded her head. "Ok, you can come."

Misty and Liam stood up straight after that, matching grins on their faces. "Alrighty then," Liam said, looking to Penny, "where to first?"

* * *

As it turned out, Penny had no idea where to go. That was part of the problem. Part of the Misty Woods being that of legend meant that no one knew where it was. Liam had joked that, obviously, their friend Misty would know where to go, but that had only earned him pained groans and a playful slap to the shoulder.

With no other real ideas, Penny had decided to have Beautifly out as they walked in hopes of him detecting something. Thankfully, the main path of the Viridian Forest was one long, winding path that took travelers all about. That was why it took so long to pass through. A straight shot through the forest would take, maybe, four days, but any one who did that ran the risk of coming across a major hive or colony. There were a number of them scattered around the forest, and the main path was made so that trainers were able to avoid the hives at a safe distance. No sane person, even the powerful veterans, wanted to take on a thousand beedrill at once.

Occasionally a stronger pokemon would come close, but most of the pokemon living near the path were the weak ones that most people didn't have an interest in, or were born near it and had no problem with the humans passing through. Thus, trainers spent two weeks dealing with caterpie and weedle that weren't really useful.

That was a bit how it went for their group for the next three days, fending off bugs that none of them had an interest in. Sometimes Beautifly would speak with them, asking if it was okay for Misty to try petting them. Shockingly, it had been Misty's idea. If she knew that the bug pokemon wouldn't attack her, then maybe she would get over her fear a little.

It hadn't ended well.

After the first day, which had consisted of a few tries on Misty's part, Liam and Penny decided to try switching it up. Whenever they found a bug that was open to being touched by Misty Beautifly would be the one to bring Misty's hand the last few inches. That way Misty could get used to the feeling of a bug touching her before actually initiating contact with one she had a problem with.

That had gone over well, and so they tried a few times their second morning together to continued success. In the afternoon Misty decided to try on her own again. She had lasted about five seconds longer before throwing in the towel. It was progress. Miniscule progress, but progress nonetheless.

They decided to do the same on their third day of travel, in hopes that she could become comfortable enough that Misty could, at the very least, contain her reactions. A second or two longer, which seemed like good progress written down, but made no real difference.

Thankfully there were a lot of trainer battles to break up their experimentation. Liam took just about all of the offers for battle; Penny had said that Beautifly was too strong and that battling the weak pokemon would be like kicking a newborn eevee, while Misty had just said that Stella wouldn't get much out of them. That left Liam and Duck to face off in another round against bug pride.

A vast majority of the trainers he battled were bug catchers, and that meant Duck got a lot of easy battle experience, though occasionally they came across other trainers searching for other species of pokemon that lived in the forest. Pikachu were known to be found here, as were oddish, bellsprout, and male and female nidoran–all of them were rare for this part of Kanto. There had even been rumors of bulbasaur living in the forest, though not many believed them. The people who did were generally collectors looking for rare pokemon.

The collectors had been the most interesting battles since they typically had rare pokemon. One woman even had an exeggcute, a grass and psychic type with that was essentially a group of eggs sharing a hive mind. That match had been interesting since the psychic powers were difficult and the pokemon was a little stronger than Duck was, but Duck and Liam had trained against Misty's Stella and had some experience in fighting out of a psychic grip. It had taken a Flare Blitz, still as impaired as in the Viridian Pokemon Center, to defeat the exeggcute.

All of the collectors had expressed interest in Duck. Growlithe were only uncommon, but it's evolved form arcanine was a hot pokemon always around the top of Kanto's pokemon popularity polls, and since Duck had useful egg moves–moves that he had been born with that weren't commonly known by newborns–Liam had received more than one offer for a trade. He had turned them down immediately.

As it was, he was battling his fourth collector here in the forest when their group got a bit sidetracked.

* * *

Duck was ready for battle, stance low, growling at the opposing pokemon. It was a geodude, orange in color and clearly one of the extremely rare examples of what most people called a shiny. Beyond the bright coloring of its stone skin, the geodude was average in size, if a little bulky in the forearms. It was obvious why the collector had it, even if the geodude's different coloring was all that it had going for itself physically.

Nevertheless, Liam scanned it, secretly taking a picture of it for posterity since experiencing shiny pokemon, whether wild or caught, was incredibly rare, then nodded to the collector that he was ready to battle.

"Geodude," The collector, a portly young man with blond hair, called, adjusting his round glasses with a confident smirk, "use tackle."

Geodude rushed for Duck, aiming straight for his face.

"Jump and use Crunch!"

Duck did as ordered, making a short leap over Geodude's head just before it would have hit him. Duck landed with ease and spun around to latch his jaws on Geodude's flank before it could turn around. With a cunning glint in his eyes, Duck wrenched his head about, something that normally would have done more damage to pokemon that weren't made of stone, before tossing geodude to the side.

It landed with a _thump_ and a pained groan, but picked itself up and began to turn to inspect the damage. A series of holes where Duck's teeth punctured were scattered on its backside, cracks webbing out from them. Geodude wasn't able to see them, its face was on the front of its body after all, but it could feel them with its large hands. As it gingerly prodded one of the wounds, it directed a glare at Duck, then roared.

It jumped up and down on the ground, raring to attack but waiting for a command from its trainer.

The collector chuckled. "I see, that's a strong attack you have there. What will you do when we use a strong one of our own? Rock Throw, Geodude! Quickly!"

Geodude cried with anger then plunged its fists into the ground. A moment later it tore them out, clumps of dirt and grass flying and two large stones in its hands. It threw one, and the stone flew through the air.

"Dodge it!" Liam ordered, and Duck jumped to the side and out of the way.

But then Geodude was there, having rushed in behind the rock. Close enough to have just punched Duck, Geodude threw it's second rock and struck him in the belly.

Duck cried out and hit the ground before sliding with his momentum.

"Are you okay?" Liam called. That had been a super effective move, and at that close a range it no doubt had done even more damage.

Duck carefully got back on his feet and leveled his own hard look at Geodude, who was smug with the success of his surprise attack.

"Ok," Liam said, trying to gauge how much more damage Duck could take. A few Tackles would be nothing, but another rock throw and they'd be in trouble. "Use Heat Wave!"

Duck barked and released his attack. The number of times that they had used it over the past few days had helped to develop Heat Wave into an actual attack. It was still underpowered for the level Duck was at, but Liam figured special attacks would never be his specialty. Physical moves would be easier, especially since Duck could put a little more oomph into those attacks with his good speed.

The orange waves of breath streaked towards Geodude, and though its trainer commanded it to dodge it wasn't fast enough to move before the heat hit it. Geodude was resistant to fire, and so it made to fight against the force of the attack. With each hand, he dug into the ground and began to crawl closer.

But the waves kept blasting it, and geodude weren't known for their strong special defenses. With one last, valiant effort it tried to get a little closer, his hand up to make another hold in the ground before geodude had taken too much damage. With a low groan geodude collapsed.

The collector frowned but returned geodude to its pokeball.

"Fine," he said as he walked over to Liam, reaching into his pocket and taking out a little bit of money. He handed over Liam's earnings and sharply turned away.

Liam pocketed the money and walked over to Duck, who was weakly coming closer. As he kneeled down to inspect the damage, the collector spoke again, and Liam turned his head to see the man glaring at him over his glasses.

"You better not be here for the bulbasaur!" He said, his arms crossed over his chest. "I saw it first! That means it's mine!" Before Liam could make the snappy retort of where he could shove his geodude the collector left.

Liam glared after him, but then looked down at Duck with a proud smile. "You were great, bud. Let's heal you up, hmm?"

Duck woofed, and though he was hurt there was pride shining in his eyes. Liam patted his head, then brought his bag around and began to root through it. Despite the large number of battles he had been in the past few days, Duck hadn't been taking an overly large amount of damage. Really, this was probably the first time he had needed more than a good rest.

Liam took out a potion and began to spray it around on Duck's side where the geodude had nailed him, as Misty and Penny walked over. They had been watching from the sidelines, Beautifly currently resting in his ball after a hard fight against a particularly strong Beedrill that had wandered too close to their camp. Beautifly had fought it back, showing that a weakness to poison didn't mean much to him, but had taken a few hard hits in return and was currently resting.

They had decided to take this day to take a break from traveling and just train, but then the collector had appeared. Training would have to wait since Duck had taken that Rock Throw, but he and Liam could get some work done later in the day, energized by a good victory.

Penny and Misty had happy smiles on their faces as they walked over.

"You did a good job, guys!" Misty complimented. "Taking out a pokemon you're weak to is a sign you're doing things right!"

"And the way Duck just blasted that geodude after taking the Rock Throw like he did? That means his Heat Wave attack is really starting to come along!" Penny said, adding on to the success.

Liam smiled at them both. "Thanks, guys." He looked down to Duck, setting the potion aside and patting his head again. "Why don't you take a rest and let that medicine sink in?"

Duck reached up and licked Liam's face, causing him to laugh, before he was returned to his ball. Liam shook the potion and felt what was left inside swish around. Another few uses and it would be out. Thankfully he had more than one potion, but the further into the forest they went the stronger the pokemon would become, and Liam didn't want to run out too soon.

Nevertheless, he stored the potion away into his bag and stood up.

"So, onwards?"

"Actually," Penny said, looking around them in consideration. "I'd like to look for the bulbasaur that guy mentioned. I've seen a few on TV, and would really like to catch one!"

Liam was a little surprised since Penny had been so focused on the Misty Woods, but it wasn't like that was going anywhere, or that they had much else happening today, so he shrugged. "Fine with me. I wouldn't mind catching a bulbasaur either, really. Would be great to use against the Pewter Gym."

"They are pretty rare," Misty added. "I don't know if I'd want one or not, but if I had the chance to catch one I'd take it."

"So it's decided!" Penny said, her voice high with excitement. "We'll look for it too! And I have just the girl to help!"

Penny threw a pokeball up into the air, and it flashed open, the light gathering together on the ground in front of them. A tall, imposing sceptile stood there, arms crossed and glaring down at them. It was about six feet tall, it's spiny tail was nearly as large as it was, with a vibrant, well cared for green color.

"Say hello to Lyla!" Penny said, a bright smile on her face as she hugged Lyla.

Lyla only harrumphed, apparently not happy with Penny's hug but used to receiving them.

"I love you too, you big grumpy pants!" Penny exclaimed.

Liam snorted with laughter and leaned over to whisper to Misty. "Whatever that sceptile said, it wasn't I love you."

Misty snorted too and nodded her head. Then she stepped forward and looked up into Lyla's eyes. Lyla glared down, and the smile on Misty's face faltered a bit, but she continued on. "It's nice to meet you, Lyla."

A small growling noise echoed from Lyla's throat in greeting. She looked over to Liam, and he nodded to her. That seemed to be more her speed, as she nodded back. Liam brought his phone and scanned her with his pokedex, then began to read through her entry as Penny continued speaking.

"I got Lyla years ago in a trade back when she was a grovyle. She was so energetic then, her trainer couldn't keep up!"

Liam peered at Lyla, and was pretty sure energetic wasn't the word her former trainer would have used. Nevertheless, Lyla was calm and here now.

"So you think she can help us find the bulbasaur?" Liam asked Penny.

She nodded her head. "Oh yeah! Lyla here can find all the best spots that the grass pokemon in the area like to hang around."

"That's great!" Misty exclaimed, excitement beginning to glimmer in her eyes. "You're going to make this so easy, Lyla! Penny! Thanks!"

Penny nodded in pride, though Lyla merely let out a scoffing kind of sound that made it clear to Liam that she was going to help, but she wasn't going to like it.

"And since it's my Lyla that's doing the work," Penny said, "then it's only fair I get the first shot at the bulbasaur when we find it!"

"I can agree to that," Liam said. Misty nodded too.

"Great!" Penny raised a fist into the air. "Then we're off to find ourselves a bulbasaur!" She immediately broke out into a roaring laugh, Lyla unwillingly following along.

Liam grinned and glanced at Misty. "How much do you want to bet that the collector guy overheard her?"

Misty chuckled. "Oh, he most definitely did."

They followed after Penny, grinning.

* * *

With Lyla as a guide, they made their way through Viridian Forest for a number of hours. A number of bug type pokemon had appeared but were quickly scared off by Lyla's intimidating, to them, presence. Which, thankfully, meant that they didn't get close enough to set Misty off.

It was actually really interesting how Lyla seemed to know where the best places for grass pokemon to congregate were just because she herself was one as well, despite never having been in the forest before. Lyla climbed the trees, or kept low to the ground, inspecting leaves and dirt and the growth of the plants. Whatever she saw there, it was enough to point her in a specific direction.

At one point Lyla had led them to an opening in the tree line, and when they passed through what appeared before them was a stretching piece of land, with no trees to block the sun, that was absolutely covered in flowers of all colors.

Neither Liam nor Misty had ever heard of such a place inside Viridian Forest, but here it was. Oddish and bellsprout relaxed about, as well as the occasional gloom and weepinbell. There were even a few paras, playing within the shadows of the tree line, and one incredibly large parasect that sat on the edge of the little meadow and looked over the peaceful scene.

There had been no bulbasaur, however, and so after taking a picture with his pokedex–to show to Professor Oak later–and placing the photo as a geomarker on his map so he could return one day, they left.

Next Lyla had led them to a small copse of trees, tall and skinny, with white bark and golden leaves that all three of them were sure shouldn't be found in the Viridian Forest. A few nesting tangela rested in the trees, their small children running around and playing with one another. Liam snapped another photo, marked the location, and then they left again. Still, there had been no bulbasaur.

Lyla led them to a few more locations, none as beautiful as the last two, that held only oddish and bellsprout. Eventually though, Misty had an idea.

"Hey, guys," she said out of the blue, pausing in thought, as they followed Lyla to wherever it was she was taking them again. Liam graciously greeted the break and took a moment to stretch his aching legs. Climbing all over the forest was going to give him amazing calves if anything. "I just had a thought."

"Yeah?" Liam asked, turning to face her as he began to stretch his arms around.

"We've checked the spots that the other grass pokemon like, but what if bulbasaur doesn't _like_ those other pokemon?"

Penny frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Misty began, "I was just thinking that, while some of these places have been amazing and quaint and all that, they didn't seem like places that Lyla would go to since they were all occupied by other pokemon. And then I realized, what if this bulbasaur we're looking for is the same?"

Liam's eyes widened with realization. "You're saying that we should be looking for somewhere to relax all alone."

Misty nodded, enthusiasm beginning to build. "Exactly!"

Her enthusiasm began to rub off onto Penny and Liam. "That's a great idea, Misty!" Penny exclaimed before turning to Lyla. "Okay, girl. Try to find us a place you would go if you wanted to be alone!"

Lyla nodded, a sparkle of interest in her eyes.

Then they were off. With new energy in their steps, Lyla steered them through the forest, across the main path, and even through the clearing Liam had his battle with the collector. They had been running as best they could through the forest when Lyla stopped all of a sudden in front of them. Thankfully, she had been running ahead of them, and so the Liam, Misty, and Penny sagged in relief behind her, thankful that they could finally stop running.

When he had caught his breath Liam looked past Lyla and he almost cheered.

Sitting at the end of a fallen, hollowed out tree trunk, sat a bulbasaur. The tree had fallen over a small cropping of rock, and through it, Liam could see clear up and out the other side. A small, bubbling stream flowed down past the tree trunk, falling over the face of the rock as a miniature waterfall before continuing on, making just enough noise so as to cover their arrival. The bulbasaur was lying there, eyes closed, relaxing in the cool air of the forest.

Liam immediately took out his camera, absently noting how nice the lighting was, and had just snapped his photo when someone shouted out. Immediately the bulbasaur was on its feet and growling. Immediately the four of them rushed forward and towards the fallen tree, but paused when the collector appeared not far away. Bulbasaur watched all of them through narrowed eyes, stance low and ready to flee or fight, depending on what happened.

"How dare you!" The collector yelled, two pokeballs in hand. "I told you that this bulbasaur was mine!"

"It's anyone's game until it gets caught!" Penny yelled back, Lyla leaping forward and ready for battle.

The collector sniffed haughtily. "Fine, if that's how it's going to be. Go, Golem!" He tossed both of the pokeballs he was holding and appearing before them was twin golem. Their spherical, stone boulder bodies, sporting reptilian arms and legs, stood near five feet tall.

Bulbasaur backed up into the tree trunk with a hiss at their appearance, and two vines slowly came out from the base of its bulb. It whipped those vines around, as if testing them, and kept them out as it watched Lyla and the two golem.

"Golem! Use Rock Blast!" The collector yelled.

Both golem opened their reptilian mouths, and glowing white balls of energy began to form there. A moment later they fired. The brilliant white orbs were launched through the air, streaking towards Lyla.

Penny didn't even give a command, but then the leaves at the base of Lyla's wrists glowed green, extending out and sharpening. The two leaves on each wrist formed into one and with flicks of her arms, Lyla easily cut through the enemy attack. The two halves of each blast veered off, snapping through tree branches and creating craters in the ground.

Liam and Misty immediately crouched down and covered their heads, but Penny stood tall and ready behind Lyla.

Liam had just looked up, peeking under his arm, and saw that bulbasaur had decided to flee instead of fight. It ran up through the tree trunk and was heading further into the forest.

"It's running away!" He cried out, and immediately everyone looked over to see bulbasaur's tailend disappear behind a tree.

"After it!" Penny immediately yelled, and Lyla jumped in pursuit.

"No!" The collector screeched. "Golem! After the bulbasaur!"

Both golem roared, then curled into a ball and began to spin at faster and faster speeds. Then they took off, barreling through the forest and mindless of the trees in their way, in the direction Lyla and Penny had gone.

"We should go too!" Liam said, looking at Misty. She nodded her head, and then they were chasing after the Penny too.

They were running and jumping and weaving around trees and branches and roots. All they could do was follow the destruction left behind by the golem. Snapped branches and destroyed tree roots were left in their wake, the rumbling of their rolling bodies echoing off the trees lining their path.

"I don't see anyone!" Misty yelled as they ran, "Do you?"

"No! But I think that guy's golem probably know where to go! We need to stop them before they bring down the whole forest!"

"Do you know how fast a golem moves when it starts rolling like that? We'll never catch up!"

"Well, we have to do somethi- Ahh!"

Liam tripped, his foot getting caught on a broken tree root curling up through the path the golem had wrecked. Liam took a hard tumble down and landed roughly on his shoulder, bouncing with the force and hitting his back on another tree root.

Liam groaned with pain and tried to get his arm underneath to prop himself up. That had hurt, but at least he hadn't broken anything. Hopefully…

"Are you okay?" Misty hurried over and helped him stand up, checking him all over for injuries.

Liam's shoulder and back throbbed, and when he tried to move his arm he winced with pain, but his muscles didn't twitch and he still had his full range of motion. "For the most part," he ground out. "That's going to bruise, though."

"We'll need to ice it."

"Not now," Liam said, looking out to where the golem's trail continued on. "We need to get moving before those golem hurt something."

Liam took a few steps forward but stopped when Misty placed a hand on his good shoulder and pointed. "It's a little late for that."

Liam looked over, and his eyes went wide with shock as he saw a green pokemon egg, fractured and heavily damaged with broken markings, lay by a fallen tree, the destroyed ruins of its nest around it. Worry immediately took him over.

Liam rushed over to it and began processing everything his mother had told him about pokemon eggs and what to do in a situation where one was broken.

"Is there anything we can do?" Misty asked as Liam kneeled down next to the egg.

"I'm… not sure. It depends on how close the egg was to hatching," Liam answered as Misty kneeled next to him.

"And the only way we can know that is by opening it up."

Liam bit his lower lip and glanced all over the egg, but nodded. It had taken so much damage… Fractured, cracks webbed all around it. Too strong of wind and the egg looked like it would shatter, inherent sturdiness or not. Honestly, it was amazing the egg had stayed together so much, but shards of shell lying on the ground next to it meant that the insides had already been exposed. Amniotic fluid was leaking out onto the ground.

"Is… is it okay to do that?" Misty asked. "Open it?"

"We won't be making anything worse."

Liam took the egg in his hands, gingerly sliding it around until the openings on the backside were facing up. A few were about the size of his thumb nail, but one was as long as his finger and as wide as two. Carefully, Liam hooked his fingers under the shell through those exposed openings and pried pieces away. Soon enough the inside, lined white and slick with the remains of the amniotic fluid, was bared open to the world.

Laying there, only a fourth of an inch big, was the tiniest living thing Liam had ever seen; a tiny spinarak. Its green body and yellow legs were all there, as well as the typical markings on its abdomen. Even its horn. Spinarak was practically a speck against the white coloring of the shell's inside.

Liam took a breath, breathing out through his nose. At first, Misty couldn't see anything, but then Liam pointed to the small green dot and Misty gasped, her hand covering her mouth and tears beginning to form in her eyes. She looked away and sniffled. Liam could only stare at the little spider, a deep sadness welling up inside him.

Then he blinked, and he thought…

"It's breathing!" Liam said, so quietly that he almost hadn't heard it himself.

"W-what?" Misty looked over to him, the tears in her eyes threatening to spill.

"It's breathing!" Liam looked at her with wide eyes, then back down to the spinarak. It was so small it was hard to tell, but Liam was sure of it, so so sure of it, that, slowly, spinarak's abdomen was expanding in and out. "It's alive!"

"Oh my-" Misty gripped Liam's arm as if daring him to say this was all a joke. She looked down at the spinarak and- "I-I can't tell, Liam. But I'll trust you."

Liam jerked his head to look at Misty, but in her eyes, he saw a sadness that told him she was sure spinarak was gone. Liam stared at her, hard, for a long moment, then turned back to the egg and nodded. Face set in determination, he began inspecting everything as best he could, watching with the strongest amount of attention Liam had ever given anything. If spinarak was alive, then that meant it could, possibly, be treated with regular medicine

Liam had an idea.

"Misty, grab a potion from my bag. And a- and a full heal, I think."

Misty nodded. She scooted around to his side and began rummaging through it. "Okay. Here." Misty leaned over and handed him a potion.

"Okay," Liam began, talking mostly to himself to help him process what to do. "Too much medicine can be poisonous so we need to be careful about applying too much."

"But spinarak are part poison type. Would it matter?" Misty asked as she watched over Liam's shoulder.

Liam paused, but then he realized he couldn't risk second guessing himself. "I'm not sure, but better safe than sorry."

Liam unscrewed the atomizer of the potion bottle. Light amber liquid, the potion, dripped from the clear rubber straw connected to it. Carefully, Liam moved the atomizer until the tip of the straw hovered just above the tiny spinarak. He watched with sharp eyes as a single drop of potion, as little as Liam could will fell and splashed onto spinarak. Quickly Liam screwed the atomizer back on and handed the potion to Misty. She took it from his hand and replaced it with a full heal. Liam repeated the motions and was careful that only a small drop of the full heal's medicine, this time a clear liquid, fell onto spinarak.

Liam passed the full heal back to Misty and leaned in close. Traces of the two medicines were quickly disappearing as spinarak absorbed them topically. He felt Misty lean on top of him, and together they watched with bated breath.

This close Liam was sure he saw the shallow intakes of breath. A few moments passed, and nothing changed, but slowly he thought that breathing motion grew ever so slightly larger, ever so faster. Part of Liam wished that he could make out the eyes better, and know if it was awake and too weak to move, but he couldn't so he'd have to do something else. Liam nodded his head and began to lean back. Misty, who was on top of him, was forced to do the same.

"Ok. I think it's breathing improved. I don't know what else to do until we get it checked, but…" Liam grabbed his bag and slid it over. From the inside, he removed a pokeball.

Misty's eyebrows shot up and her eyes went wide. "I get it! If the pokeball accepts spinarak, then we'll know it it's alive!"

Liam grimaced. "That's what I'm hoping for, but I don't know enough to say if that's true or not. And since spinarak didn't get to grow completely I don't know if the pokeball might disturb something in its body or not.

"But if I don't catch it then it'll definitely die out here, so..."

Misty didn't say anything, but after a moment nodded. Liam turned back to spinarak and, as gently as he could, pressed the button of his pokeball against it. Spinarak's tiny form dispersed into a white light that was taken in by the waiting pokeball. As soon as the light was completely in the ball snapped shut, and almost immediately afterward, in the fastest capture in probably the history of pokemon captures, the pokeball locked with a successful ding. No quiver, no flashing red light.

Liam stared down at the ball in his hand, then took out his phone and checked the pokedex app. It would have a record of spinarak's information stored inside now that he had caught it.

 _Spinarak, the String Spit pokemon. Spinarak can climb any surface easily, and shoot a strong web from both the front and back of its body. Its prey is caught and held tight in its web._

 _This Spinarak is: [error]. Known Moves: [error]. Ability: [error]._

 _[ALERT] This spinarak is [0.22] inches and weighs [0.206] pounds. Immediate medical attention required._

Liam let out a long breath. "Well, if that doesn't mean it's alive then I don't know what does." Liam turned to Misty and began to stand up. "We need to find Penny, and then try to find someone that can help us."

"Right."

Liam pocketed spinarak's ball, then they moved as quickly as they dared through the fallen bramble of trees and branches. The trail went on for some ways but came to a sudden halt at what looked like an impromptu battlefield. Deep gouges in the earth, upended boulders, smashed trees, and the remains of sliced rock; markers of rock pokemon having done battle here. There were no sounds of battle, though, and no injured pokemon to be found.

"The must have moved off somewhere else," Misty said, walking out into the field.

"I can't tell which direction. Can you?"

Misty shook her head, and Liam groaned in annoyance before kicking a small rock away.

"We'll have to head onto the path, and hope we run into someone who can help. Otherwise, we'll just have to rush back to Viridian for spinarak."

Misty sighed. "I guess, yeah."

With one last look at their surroundings, Misty and Liam took off in the direction they remembered the path to be. It took them a while since they had run so far just since encountering bulbasaur, not to mention in search of it. Eventually, they broke onto the path, more clearly lit by the daylight thanks to the break in the trees.

Liam looked left and right, not quite remembering which direction was to Viridian, and looked to Misty for help. She looked just as lost as he was, and could only bring her arms up in a shrug.

Liam took off his hat and scratched at his head furiously, spinarak's pokeball heavy in his pocket. Where to go? They didn't have time! Spinarak needed to be at a Center now! Glancing down both directions, Liam threw caution out the window and began to just run in a random direction.

Misty called his name but followed.

Liam was at almost full sprint, banking around one curve in the path after another. He barely had time to think before he ran smack into another person, sending them both crashing to the ground.

"Liam! Are you okay?" Misty was at his side a moment later. Liam groaned but nodded his head. His shoulder hadn't needed that, but he would be fine.

He looked over to the person he had run into and was slightly surprised by what he saw. The man was wearing a brown poncho over a black leather jacket, the top of a red bandana poking up from underneath. Medium length blonde hair fell to the nape of his neck, a few locks hanging over a triangular eyepatch where the man's left eye would have been. A long scar ran from his forehead, under the patch, and ended a little bit below his cheekbone. A wide brimmed hat, similar to a cowboy's, had fallen to the ground next to a long, thin, military green duffle bag.

Both Liam and the man began to pick themselves up.

"Sorry," Liam said, dusting himself off, "I need to get back to the Pokemon Center in Viridian as soon as I can."

"It's alright," the man said, leaning over to pick up his hat and bag.

"If it's an emergency," the man began as he placed his hat back on his head, "there is a forest ranger station not far from here. They will have a way of arranging quick transport out of the forest."

Liam beamed at the news, trading a happy look with Misty. "Could you take us there?"

The man nodded his head and turned to move the way behind him, when all of a sudden, from the forest, burst bulbasaur.

Loose leaves scattered behind it, bulbasaur had leaped from the tree line and high up into the air, a hurried look on its face. Just at it flew over the path, however, a pokeball whizzed out from the trees and smacked the back of bulbasaur's bulb.

Bulbasaur was sucked inside with a disappointed cry, and then the ball fell to the ground and tumbled around. Liam and Misty looked at it, flabbergasted, and watched as it shook back and forth once, twice, three times, then pinged and locked itself.

Liam blinked in surprise and took a step forward, but then Penny crashed out of the forest, Lyla not far behind her.

"Did I get it?" She asked excitedly. She snatched the ball up. "Did I? Did I?"

She sent Misty and Liam and excited, questioning look. They both nodded, and she began to cheer and jump around. Liam didn't know what to say. Congratulations? What the fuck? Both seemed entirely appropriate.

Before he had the chance to say anything, however, the collector ran out from the trees as well. It took him a moment to take in the scene, and then he was scowling at Penny. "No! That bulbasaur was mine! I saw it first!" Then the collector looked over and saw the man Liam had bumped into standing there, frowning at everything happening before him.

Liam hadn't expected the collector's face to brighten the way it did. "Mr. O'Connell! What a surprise! Listen, I have a job for you." He leveled a finger at Penny. "I want that bulbasaur she just caught. Get it for me, and I'll pay you your usual fare."

Immediately Liam, Misty, and Penny's spines straightened. What? Usual fare? Was he a pokemon thief? Liam looked at the man suspiciously. He certainly seemed rough around the edges, though the well-worn look he sported was the same for most trainers who had been on the road for an extended period of time.

O'Connell stepped forward, silent and as stern faced as Giovanni himself. He came closer until he was standing in front of the collector, and suddenly he seemed enormous. Liam was tall for his age and for Kanto, at five feet eight inches, and the collector seemed to be about the same, but at that moment O'Connell seemed like a giant. Well over six feet tall, with wide shoulders, O'Connell was a man that no one should piss off. From the way that he glared down his nose, the collector had done just that.

"You seem to be operating under a misunderstanding, Mr. White," O'Connell said, voice low. It was as imposing as his stature, with an ironclad promise of bodily harm. " _I_ am not a thief, and that bulbasaur has been rightfully caught by another trainer."

The collector, Mr. White, took a step back, but O'Connell followed after him. Mr. White clenched his shaking hands. "H-how dare you! I'm offering you generous pay on what should be an easy job!"

O'Connell's eyes narrowed, and a deep growl sounded from his throat.

Mr. White backed away again but tripped over his own feet. Falling hard on the ground, he scrambled back into the forest. O'Connell glared after him, but the distance brought Mr. White foolish confidence. He stood back up and took out an ultra ball.

He sneered at O'Connell.

"You'll regret speaking that way to me!"

He threw the ball, and as it burst open a Rhydon slammed into the ground. It was wide enough to take up nearly half of the path and tall enough that it towered a number of feet above O'Connell. A jurassic beast of stone, with a long drill-like horn as long as Liam's forearm, rhydon made more than imposing sight. This rhydon was far larger than any Liam had seen on TV, and if the extra bulk it was carrying meant anything, it was that rhydon had the strength to match its size.

Rhydon stepped toward O'Connell, the whirring of its horn easy to hear above the rumble its movements caused.

Penny stepped back, closer to Liam and Misty, since Rhydon's back was to them. Lyla followed her. While both frowned at the scene, neither seemed particularly worried.

"Shouldn't you stop him?" Liam whispered to Penny. "That thing is huge!"

She shook her head. "That other guy can handle it. I can tell. He's got experience."

Misty looked doubtful and exchanged a glance with Liam before watching Rhydon warily. "Experience, maybe, but something to take _that_ down?"

"Trust me."

Mr. White came back out from the forest and stood triumphantly to the side and behind his rhydon. It was a spot where he could see O'Connell but still duck behind Rhydon if need be. "How does it feel, O'Connell?" He called, hands on his hips and the sound of triumph clear in his voice. "To face a pokemon I hired you to capture? Quite the specimen, if you recall, and the one I used to find my precious geodude!"

Liam listened with interest but was distracted when Penny tugged him off the path and into the treeline. He shot her a confused look, but she just smiled and pointed at Mr. White.

"I remember," O'Connell said, his low voice easy to hear despite being on the opposite side of Rhydon's hulking body. "I also remember that it wasn't worth a damn in actually catching that geodude. You had me catch it for you."

Despite being behind him Liam could see Mr. White's face and neck turn red with anger.

"Why you little- Rhydon! Stone Edge!"

Liam's eyes went wide as Rhydon's tail, a long and heavy looking thing, lifted up and then smacked the ground. The ground trembled, and not a moment later there was the sound of the earth being upended as, Liam imagined, pillars of stone suddenly jutted up into the light of day.

Liam waited for it, but no cry of pain or anything similar came. Stone Edge was the kind of attack that would put a person in the hospital with crushed limbs. Instead, all he heard was a simple "Go!"

A moment later, and Rhydon was flying backward, smacking into White's shoulder and sending him spinning to the ground with a pained shriek. Rhydon landed with a mighty crash past where Liam and the others were watching, and for a moment Liam couldn't look away. Rhydon was upended, his impact churning a giant dust cloud. As that cloud cleared Liam looked to see it, groaning and in pain, inside a crate made by its gargantuan form. A clear cracked injury, as if blasted by a cannonball, was spider webbed through the middle of its abdomen. A serious blow that would be causing Rhydon pain, but could be easily fixed once it had enough minerals to repair the damage. A nice sized rock or two would clear that up.

Then White was screaming, clutching his shoulder as he accused O'Connell of trying to murder him. He was trembling, and Liam wondered if White had experienced one of those "light flashing before your eyes" moments. He was pretty sure, though not completely confident, that Mr. White would have survived the impact. Yeah, a quarter-ton beast like Rhydon smacking into you would cause some hefty damage, but the knick White took would only break his shoulder if that.

Humans could take some surprising amount of damage and walk away–they had gone through extended evolution alongside pokemon for millions of years, after all, a few perks would come from that.

Team Rocket taking Duck's fledgling Flare Blitz attack and getting punted through a window? A perfect example of humanity's own organic defensive power. Banged up and sore, but they could walk away and recover with a day of rest. Ash and Professor Oak coming through that pikachu's electric attack with only some marks and no actual burns? An example of humans withstanding the energy based attacks pokemon could utilize. It was why Mr. White still had a shoulder.

Liam looked at Mr. White, who was cursing unintelligibly, then over farther. O'Connell stood next to a lithe, crimson Scizor. A humanoid insect that had developed a metallic red exoskeleton after coming into enough contact with heavy metals, it's round pincers could definitely cause the damage Rhydon took. Scizor stood in a relaxed manner, watching Rhydon with disinterest as the behemoth wobbled back to its feet.

O'Connell walked over to Mr. White.

"Damn. That was impressive," Liam muttered, and out of the corner of his eye saw Misty nod in agreement.

O'Connell stopped in front of the collapsed Mr. White and stared down at him with a cold, uncaring eye. "I have a policy, White," O'Connell said, kneeling down, "that any client that threatens me with the pokemon I catch for them will immediately have that pokemon reappropriated." Then, to Liam's disbelief, O'Connell reached over to take Rhydon's ultra ball from White's hand.

"No!" White shrieked, trying to toss his body away and block O'Connell. He wasn't fast enough. The black and white ultra ball was in O'Connell's hand and he was walking away without a second look.

"No!" White screeched again. Weak, he began to stand. "I paid you to catch that rhydon for me! It's rightfully mine! I paid for it! Mine!"

O'Connell didn't look back. "Not if you're going to attack people with it."

"No! Rhydon, attack! Stone Edge!"

"Scizor."

At O'Connell's command, Scizor flashed forward, a crimson streak in the air, and slammed a glowing white claw into Rhydon's face. Rhydon hadn't even begun to try and attack before it was collapsing, fainted. Liam gaped. Scizor weren't known for their speed, the metal exoskeleton was too heavy but damn! That was impressive!

O'Connell silently returned Rhydon then walked over to them, eyes intent on Penny. Liam and Misty both retreated a few steps, but Penny stood tall and matched O'Connell's stare with her own. When he reached her he held up Rhydon's ultra ball.

"I caught this Rhydon for that man, and he attacked you with it. I'd like to offer it to you."

Penny looked down at the ball and Lyla warbled next to her as the Scizor came to stand behind O'Connell.

"Thank you, but no. That's too close to stealing for me to be comfortable enough to accept."

O'Connell nodded and shrunk the ball down before depositing it into a pocket. Then he reached down to his belt, where six other balls hung–an assortment of different kinds; two standard pokeballs, the webbed design of Scizor's net ball, a green-spotted dusk ball, and two orange and yellow fast balls–and returned Scizor as well.

O'Connell turned to look over at Liam and Misty.

"I'll show you to the ranger station now." Without waiting for a response, he began to walk away.

Suddenly remembering the rush he was in before, Liam hurried after him uncertain whether it was okay to trust O'Connell or not. Behind him, he heard Misty fill Penny in on what had happened in the forest.

* * *

The ranger station was a small log cabin nestled on the side of the main path. Liam didn't remember passing it while they had been walking through Viridian Forest, so likely it had been ahead of them and Liam had begun running in the direction of Pewter and not Viridian. That didn't matter, though, since they were here now.

Liam rushed inside and immediately saw a male forest ranger, dressed in the typical orange garb, sitting at a small table at the edge of a kitchenette.

"Please help!" He rushed over without preamble, spinarak's pokeball in his hands. The urgency in his voice and on his face must have been enough, the ranger didn't even question Liam barging in and instead adopted a serious manner.

"What's the problem?"

"This spinarak!" Liam said, offering up the pokeball. "I found it after it's egg was destroyed by a trainer's golem tearing through the forest!"

The ranger nodded and took the ball before walking over to a computer and the small pokeball teleporter next to it.

"Did you do anything besides catch it?" He sat down at the computer, clicking around before typing quickly.

"I gave it a drop of potion and a drop of full heal. Regular potion," Liam clarified, moving to stand at the computer's side and switch from foot to foot, frowning worriedly. Behind him was the sound of movement.

"A drop, and not a spray?" The ranger asked, looking over at Liam.

Liam nodded, and as he did the computer screen flickered before the image of Nurse Joy appeared in a video call.

"Viridian City Pokemon Center," she announced, a serious look on her face.

"This is ranger station VF-2. I have a prenatal spinarak in need of immediate assessment," the ranger said, placing spinarak's ball on the transporter.

"Previous treatment?" Nurse Joy was typing away, the loud clicking coming through the call. Suddenly, the transporter flashed, and spinarak's pokeball was gone.

"Potion and full heal; one drop each."

Nurse Joy turned for a moment, followed by a couple of beeps, before looking back at the ranger. "I'm reading its vitals now. Wild or trainer?"

At the question, the ranger turned to Liam with a questioning look. Liam moved over to stand behind him and looked at Nurse Joy. "I found its egg in the wild, Nurse Joy."

A surprised look popped up on her face before becoming serious once more. "Thank you, Liam. I'll begin work immediately. Ranger." The video call ended and Liam leaned back with a worried sigh.

The ranger turned in his chair, a small smile on his face. "That's all we can do on our end. Why don't you sit with your friends, and I'll prepare some drinks for everyone?"

Liam nodded and turned around to see Misty and Penny sitting on a small couch across the room. On a second couch, pushed up against the kitchen table and facing the other one, was O'Connell. He was turned around, having watched what went down.

"Thank you for showing us here," Liam said to him, surprised that he had stuck around.

O'Connell nodded and turned to sit normally. Liam came around and sat on the spot next to him.

"Wow, Liam!" Penny said, sitting forward in her seat. "It's so crazy that you found that spinarak!"

Liam shrugged uncomfortably, then winced when some pain ran through his shoulder.

"Oh, that's right! Your shoulder is hurt!" Misty exclaimed.

"You're hurt?" The ranger said from behind them.

"I fell on my shoulder is all," Liam said. "It's fine."

"I'll prepare some ice for you," the ranger said, bringing over a small platter with four glasses of water. He set the platter on a small coffee table that sat between the two couches, then returned to the kitchen. A few moments later, the sound of ice clinking could be heard. "I'll need to get some statements from you all to write up in an incident report, but you'll be free to leave after that if you'd like."

He came back around, a bundled dish towel in one hand and one of the kitchen chairs in the other. He placed the chair at the end of the coffee table and passed the towel over to Liam, who felt the chill of ice inside and held it up against his hurt shoulder. The ranger retrieved a notepad and a pen, then sat down and looked at them with a kind smile.

"So, who's first?"

Penny started off, explaining how Liam had battled Mr. White earlier in the day and, after losing, how Mr. White mentioned that he was looking for a bulbasaur. From there the story was tossed around, Liam, Misty, and Penny all telling their share of the story. O'Connell had little to say, as he wasn't actually involved with spinarak's egg, but he did give Mr. White's contact information to the ranger due to the destruction Mr. White's golem had caused.

Eventually, however, they finished and began preparing to leave the station. There was no telling when Nurse Joy would be able to report on spinarak's state, and so Liam left his contact information with the ranger and said that he would be heading to Pewter City once he was through the Viridian Forest. The ranger promised to leave a message with the Nurse Joy there when he received some news.

After that, the four of them left the station and stood in the cool forest air. There was a few hours left in the day, enough for Liam, Misty, and Penny to make a decent amount of distance further into the forest, and so they decided to begin walking that way. O'Connell, on the other hand, was on his way to Viridian City, and so bid them goodbye before departing.

It was as O'Connell began to walk away that Penny turned to Liam and Misty with a wide grin. "Well, that was a fun side quest, but now it's time to turn back to our real adventure! The Misty Woods!"

Misty laughed. "Hopefully it won't get as intense as this has been!"

Penny and Misty continued chatting, walking forward on the path. Liam followed after, glancing back one last time at the ranger station and hoping that spinarak was okay, before taking a deep breath and letting a smile grow on his face. He rushed forward, popping between Misty and Penny, and hooked his arms around theirs.

Laughing, the three of them walked that way until they decided to stop for the night. If Liam's laughter had seemed a little forced, his smile a little fake, then neither commented on it.

* * *

 **Edit Note:** Forgot to include the backmatter! Now included below. Thank you kind reviewer!

* * *

 **Pokemon and Their Nicknames**

Liam's Pokemon:

 **Duck** = growlithe; Spinarak (?)

Misty's Pokemon:

 **Stella** = staryu

Penny's Pokemon:

Beautifly; **Lyla** = sceptile; Bulbasaur

* * *

 **Chapter Word Count** : 18,224 **Date Posted:** Monday, February 18, 2019 **Edit Date:** Tuesday, February 19, 2019


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